Christmas Meltdown
by XCountrySkiier03
Summary: It's the first Christmas since Pitch tried to take over, and North plans to come back with a bang. With Christmas present totals nearly doubling what they usually do, North asks the other Guardians to help with delivering this year. Unfortunately, a friendly competition between Bunny and Jack may reduce the newest guardian to a puddle by the time they finish.
1. Chapter 1

This involves some Bunny/Jack friendship bonding! Jack falls ill the guardians help him lalala... Read and Review :)

I do not own Rise of the Guardians!

* * *

It was Christmas time. The first Christmas since Pitch Black had tried to douse the lights of belief belonging to children scattered across the globe. This was the first holiday season since nearly all the children had forgotten their belief. Some of the lights that had gone out still remained out. Most had returned, but some shined more faintly and flickered in a dangerous sort of way.

The guardians had been working to increase the number of lights back to what it was before the battle, Sandy giving the children out of the ordinary dreams, Tooth leaving extra gifts for teeth, and Jack spreading winter joy to the lands. Despite all these efforts, the huge blow to faith was not completely restored.

If they wanted the full belief of the children, the guardians knew that they had to make this Christmas big. Even though Pitch was defeated, and his plot thwarted, it couldn't be said he had gone down without leaving damage behind. And what a better damage control than Christmas?

North had been planning ever since the fall of Pitch a way to make Christmas special. His plan mainly focussed on giving children all over the world double the presents he usually supplied, even granting them to naughty children, however they would receive considerably less. Yetis had been working overtime to stock the presents for the children in preparation for the holiday. This would be a Christmas not to forget.

A meeting had been held to discuss these matters months before, one which all the guardians had attended, including Jack, who had surprisingly taken his role as guardian better than any of them had expected. He had slid right into place with the children, and was overall, a pleasant "coworker" to put it in a frank way. He greeted the guardians pleasantly when they crossed paths and seemed to please the kids he played with.

He was a bit more distant than the others would like, however. Bunny usually brushed it off saying "That frosty whacker just thinks he's better than us," But deep down they all knew Jack was still wary of their friendship. After all they hadn't given him much reason to trust them after 300 years of rejection. They were all still guilty about that.

* * *

North woke that Christmas eve morning with a bright outlook on life. Only a day until Christmas. The day the lights on the globe would explode in bright glowing faith.

North dressed in a brisk manner, shooing the elves that rushed around under boot, eventually making his way down to the globe room where a few yetis waited for him.

"This is it Phil! Big day!" North said with gusto. "It is time to summon the Guardians!" With that North pulled the huge switch which caused the northern lights to burst into the sky. Now all he had to do was wait for his temporary apprentices to arrive.

It was only about 5 minutes before a door to the lower level of the Globe room burst open revealing a shivering Bunnymund who made his way up to the main floor where North stood waiting.

"It's bloody freezing out there! Every time I come my paws just about fall off! Ya happy about that jolly man?" Bunny hopped to the fire and rubbed his feet fervently trying to get some blood into the frozen appendages.

"Ah Bunny! You must not be bitter. Tis Christmas Eve after all!" North said bringing a rough but friendly pat onto the unexpecting Bunny who nearly toppled over seeing as he was balancing on one foot. "Watch it Cringle" Bunny said regaining his balance.

Tooth was the next to flutter in through the same door as Bunny, fluttering up to join the two guardians, a small flock of mini fairies following in her wake. "North! Bunny! Merry Christmas Eve!" Tooth said brightly giving each of them a quick hug before zipping across the room to look at the globe.

"The lights still look a bit dull but oh how they'll shine tomorrow morning!" Tooth exclaimed to her fairies who nodded and chittered excitedly. "North, this is big! We are going to get our believers back!" Tooth was so excited she couldn't hold still and proceeded to fluttering all about.

Bunny smirked at the hyperactive Tooth fairy. Sometimes she was too much but it was mostly entertaining to watch her restless energy. Bunny pulled an egg out of the pouch he wore across his chest and began designing the white blank shell.

"See Bunny! What I tell you every year? Christmas is more important than Easter!" Bunny's nose twitched at the comment, the pad of his paw slipping slightly, smearing the design on the egg he was currently painting. "Ha. Ya right mate. If it was Easter time, those little ankle-biters wouldn't be able to step a foot without finding an egg. Their hope would be restored and then sum" Bunny said smugly.

"Ahh but the wonder! That is what's important!" The Russian man said with conviction Bunny's eyes narrowed "Aye mate, do ya really want to get into this now"

"Hey come on now guys it's Christmas Eve! We can't have these silly little arguments now. It's a time for family and the children!" Tooth said with enthusiasm, but a harsh enough tone to let the two guardians know she wouldn't put up with the senseless bickering.

"We should listen to Tooth, besides we all know Christmas more important" Bunny opened his mouth for a retort but closed it in frustration as Tooth shot him a warning glare, about 5 little fairies floating around her head imitating her stern look.

Just at that moment Sandy floated in through an open window, a cloud of golden sand swirling beneath his feet before he dropped off to hover a few inches above the wooden floor. "Sandy!" Tooth greeted, smiling enthusiastically, her wings beating a mile a minute. Her little fairies followed and fluttered around the the short man who smiled at their unfaltering affection.

Still in a bad mood from the Christmas vs. Easter argument Bunny growled, taking out his frustration "Well where's that trouble making little freeze pop. I swear if that whaker is a no show he's gonna hear from me,"

"Relax Kangaroo" Jack's voice floated down from the open window Sandy had just appeared through. "Jack!" Tooth greeted cheerily, her mini fairies sighing in admiration at his flashy white grin. Sandy smiled warmly at Jack, symbols of welcome flashing above his head. "Ah Jack! There's my snow spirit!" North greeted.

Jack stepped into the workshop, his staff slung over his left shoulder casually. He was holding a Santa shaped cookie that had its head bitten off. Apparently he had taken a pit stop at the kitchens before floating up to the main room. He made his way over to stand by the four guardians "Of course I'm here! I wouldn't miss this in the world! Front row view of North on the job. I've always wondered how he does it." North beamed at Jack who really was full of curiosity about the matter. Jack took another bite from his cookie before smirking realizing the chance to harass the Easter Spirit, "Besides, Christmas is the most important holiday, right?"

"Ah ha! I like this boy!" North shouted clapping Jack on the back, nearly causing him to choke on his last bite of cookie. The two snickered while Bunny scowled.

"Laugh it up ya bloody wombats"

"Okay okay! That's enough," Tooth was even giggling at Bunny's furious glare towards North and Jack who had rudely ganged up on him. "It's still early now but if we don't get moving this work is going to pile up quick!" Tooth fluttered all over during her explanation, going into tooth gathering mode. She knew how to get work done, and with her hyperactive attitude she would make sure to keep the other guardians in line, just as she did with her fairies.

"Tooth is right!" North boomed holding up his arms, addressing all the guardians. "It is time to get started! Tis only morning now but night will soon fall and there is still organizing to do! To the delivery room!" Tooth and Sandy both looked excited while Bunny rolled his eyes, still bitter about before.

"Delivery room?" Jack questions his face in complete confusion "What is this some kind of post office?"

"Ohhh I forgot Jack, this is your first Christmas on the inside," Tooth said looking a little guilty at the realization. It was hard to avoid the awkward time gap every single guardian was aware of. Jack had been an outsider until only recently. Of course he would have no idea. "You'll see when we get there, it's really quite amazing! You'll love it!" The mini fairies surrounding Tooth nodded in agreement chirping away in their weird little language.

"Not as amazing as my eggs and tunnels ah course," Bunny added as they all began walking downwards toward the basement where the "delivery room" was located. Sandman rolled his eyes. This age old argument was never going to die out. It had even deeper roots than the argument between Bunny and Jack about snow on Easter. However, Sandy didn't mind the entertainment from the harmless bickering. He figured it was simply a good show. He could see Jack felt the same way, the two sharing a look of amusement as North laughed at Bunny's most recent comment.

North led them through a long wide room big enough to host a royal ball. It was boarded with workbenches, tools, and building supplies. The place was all a bustle with Yeti's carrying huge bags undoubtably filled with mounds of toys and presents. Elves ran too and fro carrying stray tools, decorative bows, wrapping paper, and plates of Christmas cookies.

Jack's eyes widened in amazement. This was the workshop at full throttle. It filled him with a feeling of joy and wonder as airborne toys swooped down from the rafters. Jack couldn't keep his eyes in one place. There was so much to take in. A wide smiled played across the ice spirit's lips at every new sight.

Tooth smiled at Jack's expression. It was wonderful to see Jack so happy and carefree. Sandy had also picked up on the boy's cheerful demeanor and smiled at Jack's child like reaction. Even Bunny softened enough at Jack's sincere joy of the place to let a small grin appear on his furry features. He shook it off though realizing this was frostbite he was smiling at and quickly returned his focus back to painting his egg.

As they continued to walk North bellowed out orders to passing Yeti's and Elves "No, no, that bag is not full, take it back to workroom and stuff it to the brim!" "Make sure sleigh bells are attached to reindeer, I must sound jolly" "Where are cookies I ordered half hour ago?"

Finally they reached the end of the gigantic room to where a wide arch led them down another short flight of stairs that ended in what Jack presumed was "The delivery room"

"Woooww" Jack said his mouth shaping into an impressed "o" at the sight of the mile high ceiling. The most shocking feature of the room were the 6 _huge_ piles of bags stacked nearly to the roof. Each bag resembled that which could be seen in any holiday cartoon sitting in the back seat of Santa's sleigh.

Each enormous pile was stacked in front of what looked like giant empty barn stalls, but this was not where the reindeer were kept. "So what are the stalls for?" Jack wondered out loud as he watched numerous Yetis throwing bags of presents into their respective piles. It seemed they had some sort of a system.

"You see Jack," North explained as he watched his Yetis work "Each stall will house a portal to a different continent, yes? All except Antarctica. No one lives in Antarctica! Ha!When I am in that continent Yetis, and now guardians as well, will toss bags through portal and they will meet me where I hand deliver each present under trees of sleeping little children" North finished proudly. "How else you think I deliver to 2 billion children in one night?" North had a twinkle in his eye as he winked at Jack who seem impressed, just as he had been with his first sight of the sleigh. There was more to Santa Clause than cookies and milk, that's for sure.

Sandy tugged on Norths pant leg, not reaching high enough to silently get the mans attention any other way. North looked down at the shortest guardian who flashed images of the Guardians working then a question mark to follow.

"Ah! Yes! Sandy you keep me in line!" North beamed at his fellow guardians. Jack looked a little apprehensive at the idea of work, but was all too willing to become a part of the wonder of Christmas. He had already spent the past couple of days flying to all the cold places in the world and granting them with white Christmases. Each place he went carols could be heard and shops were decorated. Children were happily anticipating a break from school. It had certainly put Jack in the Christmas mood, especially with the knowledge that he would actually have _plans!_ For 300 years he had always spent Christmas alone, but not this year, even if it did mean he had to put in some elbow grease.

Tooth looked excited yet determined to start with the work. She had helped North out with his delivery before so she anticipated what was to come, knowing the physical labor that would be attached.

Bunny had also spent a few Christmases helping North with his work. He looked at it as a challenge and a chance to use his strong build to help out. Maybe even prove to North his work ethic and usefulness as a Guardian.

"Alright!" North began. Sandy rolled up his sleeves prepared for orders. "See Yetis carrying bags? We will all join in! We take bags stored in vault and bring them to delivery room. Each bag has tag to say which pile each belongs to. Simple enough, yes?!" North was so enthusiastic it kind of scared Jack, but hey, he was a newbee and still had to get used to the overbearing personalities of each guardian at some point.

"On it!" Tooth said fluttering toward the vault, followed by Sandy and then Bunny hopping along behind. Jack was about to follow when North put both hands on either of Jack's shoulder and turned him around so they were face to face.

"Jack. I want to say thank you in advance" North looked dead serious.

"No problem, big guy," Jack said, a little confused why he was being singled out, but North soon explained.

"I know we Guardians have not been there for you all the time" North looked solemn and Jack's eyes dropped at the memories of his 300 years of solitude. "But you are here for us, no? You are such good guy you help when we have not helped you. But we will change that with time. So I must say, Jack, thank you" North then proceeded to pat Jack roughly on both shoulders before walking by him to help with the presents.

"Wha'cha standing around for Frosty get ta work!" Bunny was already hauling a bag of presents over his shoulder, and was peeved by the fact that Jack was just standing their with a stupid look on his face.

Jack snapped out of his thoughts of what North had just said and jumped into action following the line of Yetis walking towards what he presumed was the store room. "Calm down you over grown hairball," Jack smirked as he heard Bunny stop and furiously ask "What did you just call me?" but Jack was already much too far away to argue.

"Haha!" Jack laughed audibly as he ducked a flying remote airplane, lopsided because of an elf hanging off one of the wings. "Wahh?" Jack paused a moment in awe as he watched about 6 of Tooth's mini fairies flying one of the huge present bags toward the delivery room. They were like ants or something!

It was clear that the process of moving the bags from the vault to where they would be shipped had been coming along for months because the vault looked near empty compared to the delivery room.

Jack rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to pick a bag from the randomly assorted pile of what remained to be moved. The tag said _South America_. "Easy enough!" Jack thought before hauling the bag over his shoulder, a little clumsily because he was still holding his staff. He would probably have to ditch it in order to be effective, even though that made him a little uncomfortable.

The day continued as such, moving and sorting the bags. The guardians and Yetis all took a short lunch break but were quickly back to work. It didn't take too much longer until the whole process was complete and the bags were lined up to be delivered by the fat man himself.

The next job was prepping the sleigh and reviewing the course that North would follow in order to reach all houses containing children. All the guardians helped polish the runway so it was sure to be a smooth take off. Nothing could go wrong. The children were at stake! Jack even helped secure some of the ice tunnel where the sleigh exited the work shop making sure no icicles could fall onto the passing sleigh.

Finally, the evening was upon them and North was saddled up and ready to go, about five bags already in the back of his sleigh. A few elves scurried around the hooves of the reindeer, making sure their horse shoes were secured. Frankly Jack was surprised they actually had the competence to do that. He watched them franticly scurrying about "under boot" as North always said. That was until Tooth nudged him to pay attention as North began to speak.

"I travel East to West to work with sun and time zones. Because of this, I have 31 hours of Christmas to work with! I usually am done in 25 though," North said proudly as he held the reigns of the sleigh. "I start in Asia first then Europe and move across from there. Africa, North America, South America, then hit all the islands along the way and end with Australia."

Sandy Nodded and then formed an image of a clock above his head and pointed out a window framing a setting sun. "Oh North you better head out! Good luck!" Tooth smiled brightly knowing that even with the huge amount of presents there were to deliver, North would not fail. Bunny and Jack nodded at what Tooth had said, also wishing the Spirit of Wonder luck on his trip.

"Ah yes I shall be off! This will be the best Christmas ever!" North boomed before whipping the reins prompting his reindeer into forward motion. "Merry Christmas!" They heard North yell as he careened out of sight and down the ice tunnel.

Jack chuckled at North's cliche exit but was soon tugged again by Tooth towards the delivery room. "Hurry! We will have to start throwing the bags to North soon! He is faster than you think!" With that Bunny, Tooth and Jack spend back to the bag room until Jack noticed Sandy hanging behind.

"Aren't you coming Sandy?" Jack asked. Sandy shook his head and made an image of sleeping children with sugarplums dancing over their heads. "Oh right, right, the sugarplums and dreaming thing. Well good luck!" Jack said with a smile before speeding off after the other two guardians who would be tossing sacs all night. Sandy silently chuckled at the boys enthusiasm. He was certainly a nice edition to the family and it pained Sandy that it had taken so long for them to welcome him in.

Sandy shook his head and proceeded to exit the building towards civilization. The children would get good dreams tonight. It would be epic.

* * *

Jack gasped as he reentered the delivery room. The bags were still there, tall piles huge as they had been before, but now the once empty barn stalls were filled with 6 gaping, swirling portals. They were similar to the portals created by the snow globes, but these seemed perpetually opened. Jack had not noticed them before while they were vacant, but two huge fire places roared with flame on either side of the room. Jack almost staggered as the heat from the room enveloped him. It wasn't blisteringly hot, but slightly uncomfortable for the winter spirit.

It wasn't as if he couldn't handle heat. He wasn't a little snowflake ready to melt away, but still winter and heat don't mix well and it was safe to say the heat made Jack a little out of sorts. However, 300 years and he had never found out what extended exposure would do. He had never lingered in warm weather. It couldn't be that bad though. Right? He subconsciously clutched his staff a little tighter.

Jack swallowed and stepped to join the other two guardians and yetis who stood waiting for a signal. "Hey is there a reason the fires are cranked?" Jack asked Tooth, trying to mask his slight concern.

"These portals need a lot of power to stay open so long. Its a combination of very powerful Christmas magic and coal." Tooth said showing her admiration for the system. She then realized why Jack may have been concerned, him being a cold weather spirit and all. "Will the heat bother you? We will open all the windows so it doesn't get too warm in here. I'll have a couple yetis do that now!"

"Haha naahhh you kidding me?" Jack said relieved that the windows were going to at least be opened. "I'm not a snowflake, it's not like I'm going to melt or anything," he hoped. "I was, uh, just wondering" Jack said putting on a very believable smile of reassurance. Tooth believed it and smiled back.

"If ya can't stand tha heat, get out of tha kitchen right, Frostbite?" Bunny smirked overhearing their conversation.

Jack scowled indignantly at this, "Right back at you, Cottontail, I'll be delivering way more bags than you anyway"

"Is that a challenge?"

"You know what I think it is." At this point the two had stepped towards each other, forehead to forehead. A silent vow that whoever broke eye contact was the weak link. Tooth groaned. Same old same old.

Suddenly Tooth gasped. A small green bulb had flashed on over stall number one, the portal that lead to the continent of Asia. This indicated North was ready to start receiving bags. Pushing the two seething Guardians apart she pointed at the light. Every Yeti had noticed this as well and, being well practiced after years, set to work, a great grey yeti throwing the first bag.

Jack and Bunny shared a last glance before jumping into action after Tooth. Bunny grabbed two bags at once and hurled them through the portal. Then grabbed two more and tossed them after the previous ones. "Already got four mate you're going down!" Bunny shouted at Jack, grinning maliciously. Jack smirked and said "Well why are you going so slow! I'm already at six!" Jack then grabbed two bags bigger than he was and used his staff to create a blast of frost to propel them into the portal where they promptly disappeared.

Bunny glared for a second but a sincere smile had flickered onto his face. "Bloody show pony"

The two proceeded like this constantly shouting out numbers. Tooth was not quite as quick as the two boys but she was tossing her fair share, along with all the yetis. The pile was quickly growing smaller as more time passed.

"48!" Jack yelled tossing three more sacs into the portal. "53!" Bunny shouted triumphantly earning a glare from Jack which made him laugh. This was more fun than he had thought it would be.

Amongst the shouting of steadily increasing numbers the pile for Asia dwindled until the last bag had been tossed by Jack who yelled "82!" brightly at Bunny who was still only at 76. The light for Europe blinked on and the game continued

Bunny and Jack laughed and rough housed, occasionally pushing one another out of the way to claim a sac to toss.

"Hey! remember we are working for the same purpose here! There's no need for that!" Tooth would shout every now and then but the two were having too much fun and the job was going much smoother than expected. It turned out the friendly competition was actually speeding up the process, making for record time, even with the extra gifts.

It wasn't until they were about halfway through the pile of gifts meant for North America that Jack started to feel sick. Sure he was sweating like a pig on a farm before, which was unusual for him anyway, but he was starting to get dizzy and his stomach felt upset.

"314!" Bunny shouted. He was also sweating but obviously not caving into the fatigue. After all, they had been working pretty much straight for nearly 11 hours. And that was with the help from the Yetis, Tooth, and the occasional elf that would try pulling a sac out of the pile.

Thank goodness Jack was in the lead so he had time to take off his sweat shirt. He pulled it hastily over his head and felt relief as cool air from the open windows brushed by his sweaty body. Unfortunately the stifling heat from the fires was rather overpowering. He wore a white plain crew neck t-shirt that was quickly becoming soaked from the profuse amount of moisture leaking from the Guardian of Fun.

"Better watch it frosty I got 326!" Bunny hollered, knowing Jack was up to 330 bags so far. Jack took a steadying breath willing away the stomach pain and light headedness before slipping into his characteristic trouble maker smirk. "I think you underestimate me, Rabbit!" Jack said slipping back into his cocky self. He wasn't about to let the heat get to him so easily!

And so they continued eating through the bags for South America, and finally reached the last standing pile, Australia. At this point Jack was barely keeping pace with the rabbit. He was hot. And tired. And sick. The white mop of hair usually spiky and spunky was plastered to his head and he was officially qualified for a wet t-shirt contest. He was starting to feel sluggish and drowsy and his stomach had gotten worse. The bags started to feel heavier and heavier and the flames from the ever burning fire place became more and more overbearing. He also started to notice each breath was a little harder to take in, causing him to wheeze.

Bunny had not lost too much steam. Sure he was slowing down a bit. His fur was knotted with sweat but he was determined to beat the little bugger. Plus they were onto Australia! His home land pride had to come through.

The sun was starting to rise as they tossed the last of the sacs through the portal. A job well done. The yetis sighed in exhaustion and began to clear out of the room awaiting the return of North and the sleigh.

"A fair go, mate but you're no match for me!" Bunny exclaimed, panting hard. What a workout _that_ had been. "Score says 736 to 648..Ha!" Bunny celebrated, until he took a look at the winter spirit.

"Uh mate you don't look so good" Bunny said, actual concern in his tone. The boy looked like absolute, for lack of a better word, shit. His hair was wet and matted like a dog and his skin was abnormally pale except for his cheeks which were actually flushed pink. Jack's eyes seemed to come in and out of focus as he swayed where he stood. He looked like he was about to faint on the spot. If it wasn't for his staff which he still clutched, he probably would have fallen.

Jack closed his eyes shut hard and put his hands over his face. He groaned sinking to the floor, plopping unceremoniously back onto his behind, placing his staff on the floor next to him.

"Jack!" Tooth exclaimed as she noticed the shape of their newest guardian. She fluttered over to where he sat his knees drawn up to his chest in obvious discomfort. Bunny hopped over as well, kneeling on the floor next to Jack and placing a large paw on his back, ignoring the dampness of the shirt.

"What's the matter Jack? Are you alright?" Tooth asked placing her hand on his shoulder.

Jack was extremely nauseous and his mouth was beginning to water. He swallowed repeatedly as his throat began to numb. He knew what was coming and wished he could stop it.

"Uuuggghh" Jack moaned moving a hand to his abdomen. "I think I'm gonna be sick" Bunny and Tooth both looked at each other in concern before Jack began heaving. Dropping over to hands and knees Jack violently emptied his stomach onto the wooden floor.

Bunny rubbed the boys back a feeling of guilt coming over him as he realized it was probably their stupid game that had pushed Jack over the edge. "Bunny, I think there is something seriously wrong!" Tooth exclaimed in concern as Jack continued to vomit. What was troubling was the amount of water being expelled from Jack's mouth, as if he had drunk a lake.

Soon a sizable puddle of clear water covered the floor and the Guardian of Fun was obviously becoming weaker and weaker. He coughed and gasped in between each heave, easily becoming out of breath as the amount of water flowing past his lips prevented him from inhaling properly.

"Good lord He's gonna drown himself," Bunny didn't know what to do or how to stop the flow of water escaping the winter spirit. Jack continued to heave but could no longer support himself as his arms shook and finally folded causing him to flop to the floor fighting for consciousness. He couldn't tell how much water was being expelled and how much was going into his lungs. He gagged and spluttered again trying to inhale whilst his lungs fought the motion already being waterlogged.

Jack laid, quivering on the floor water splashing from his mouth and surrounding him. His small form and pale limbs gave him the appearance of a melting snowman, suffering in the sun. Bunny had no experience with winter spirits but it sure looked like Jack had been lying when he said he couldn't melt.

"We gotta get him outta this room!" Bunny suddenly said as he realized the heat from the fires that had slowly been consuming the area. Despite Jack still heaving water, Bunny snatched the youngest guardian up into his arms and hopped as fast as he could out of the room. Tooth, startled by his sudden action followed behind quickly hoping she could help.

"I think it's the heat, mate! It's killin im!" Bunny was frantic he had to get Jack outside to the frigid weather of the pole. He could feel Jack shaking in his arms as he continued to cough and splutter more water spilling out into Bunny's fur. What worried Bunny was the growing weakness of each cough. They were ineffective and each inhale became more shallow and watery.

Jack barely realized his surroundings or the fact that he was being carried out of the heat. He coughed wetly and tried to draw in air but found he was unable to. The flow of water from his mouth was beginning to lighten but his lungs were too bogged down to work. Jack's vision swam in dizzying patters until the edges became to blacken. The lack of oxygen was quickly consuming Jack into unconsciousness. It was only moments until his world went black. The winter spirit slackened and his body became lax and limp.

Once at the top of the stairs Bunny glance about frantically for an exit. Finding what he was looking for, Bunny hurtled toward the back of the globe room, and out of a creaky wooden door onto a small porch. The sun was just starting to rise meaning North and Sandy would soon be back. They would know what to do! Bunny just hoped Jack would make it till then. He had just noticed the winter spirit was deathly still in his arm and could feel the heat radiating off of the thin body. Extremely unnatural for the winter spirit.

"Come on Frosty stay with me." Bunny gently laid the boy into a large pile of snow caused by wind drift. Only half of the porch was blown free of snow and the rest North didn't bother to clear, seeing as it snowed perpetually at the Pole. Tooth, who had followed, now hovered behind him, the worry rolling off her in palpable waves. "Bunny he's so still, is he breathing? Check if he's breathing!" Tooth couldn't stay still she hummed back and forth behind Bunny in a very distracting manner.

Bunny leaned over and laid one of his long ears against Jack's chest. What he heard frightened him. There was the slowest and faintest thump of a heart beat but no sound of air whooshing into or out of the body. There was no rise and fall of his chest either. "Crieky he ain't breathin wha'do we do!" Bunny was in hysterics and he could tell Tooth was not much better. It wasn't often they stumbled upon situations like this.

* * *

I was going to make this a one shot but it kept getting longer and longer so I cut it here awkwardly...This is my first fanfiction ever though and I am NOT a writer! Going into a health profession so far from it. If you review please be nice and I apologize in advance for grammatical and spelling errors which I am sure are plentiful despite my reviewing...

Also! I apologize if the numbers/time constraints don't match up I didn't look into that too much

Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

_Bunny leaned over and laid one of his long ears against Jack's chest. What he heard frightened him. There was the slowest and faintest thump of a heart beat but no sound of air whooshing into or out of the body. There was no rise and fall of his chest either. "Crieky he ain't breathin wha'do we do!" Bunny was in hysterics and he could tell Tooth was not much better. It wasn't often they stumbled upon situations like this._

Tooth broke out of her mind and snapped back to reality. "Bunny, we need to keep our heads if we're going to help Jack. CPR, we need to do CPR," Bunny looked at Tooth's determined face and knew she was right.

"Right chest compressions. On it" Bunny pulled the lithe frame of Jack off of the pile of snow he had been placed in and onto the hard planks of the small deck. He then proceeded to place a furry paw just onto the boys sternum area and his other paw on top of that. Bunny could feel his arms shaking, whether it was from the cold or shock of Jacks condition he didn't know.

Bunny pushed down hard on Jack's chest in a rhythmic manner. He counted each press until he reached thirty where he stopped and Tooth took over in giving Jack a few breaths. She tilted his head back and simultaneously pinched the bridge of Jacks nose before covering his mouth with hers and exhaling forcefully into the winter child. The guardian of Hope watched as Jack's chest rose as each breath was blown into him, silently praying before he started compressions again.

The team worked like this for about five rounds before Bunny started panicking. His compressions became more frantic. Deeper and harder he pressed into the small ice spirits chest. "Why isn't it workin, Tooth?" Tooth's expression showed she was worrying the same thing, her eyes welling with tears at Bunny's jerky motions. As if on cue Jack gave a weak splutter, then a gag, and finally a wracking cough, bringing up water which simply trickled back down his throat and caused him to choke further, still unable to breathe. Bunny nearly stumbled backwards at the sudden change but quickly remembered his focus. He rolled Jack on his side so the water could work with gravity and be expelled from his lungs properly.

Jack did nothing but shudder for a moment causing Tooth and Bunny to bite their nails further in wonder why the winter spirit had seemingly forgotten how to breathe. Bunny, loosing patience, took one of his sizable paws and beat Jack's back roughly, hoping to prompt him into getting a move on with the whole oxygen thing. It worked and Jack began to cough and draw in a few ragged breaths. His lungs indignantly worked to rid themselves of the unwelcome water that had forcibly entered.

"Thas right Jack, get it all out. It's alright. See tha' you're gonna be fine. Jus fine." Bunny tried to sooth the winter guardian but knew the words of comfort were more for himself. Jack simply hacked the water from his lungs for what seemed like hours and once they were clear he shook in exhaustion under Bunny's paw, inhaling deep uneven breaths. It was horrible to listen to, really.

"I'm going to go see if North or Sandy are back. They'll be able to help." Tooth said looking at Bunny for reassurance before she acted. "Good idea, I'll stay here with Frosty." Bunny nodded and with that Tooth fluttered off back into the workshop.

The giant rabbit trained his focus onto the boy under his paw and once he was sure Jack's coughing episode was over he rolled him onto his back once more, tilting the small boys chin up to help clear his airway. For a moment Bunny just stared at the movement of Jack's chest as he sucked in air greedily. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and pain. He took determined breaths as if trying to steal the most amount of air possible for fear of it being taken away again.

Bunny wasn't sure how long it took but soon Jack seemed to realize he would not again be starved of oxygen and allowed his inhales to slow. Every now and again a jarring cough would crackle from his lungs which Bunny winced at. The winter spirit's color was still off, his body temperature clearly above normal. It was then Bunny realized Jack's eyes were cracked open slightly trained up at the furry guardian.

"There ya are mate. We thought we were gonna lose ya. Gave Tooth and I quite a fright. Crieky if I had known you were gonna melt in tha heat back there I wouldn't ah.." Bunny was rambling. He didn't know what to say but he stopped when he realized Jack was trying to speak, gasping like a fish more like. "Wha is it Frostbite" Bunny leaned in close to try and hear the words.

"Aw" Jack coughed before straining out "You do care" Jack was reduced to another fit which left him gasping but Bunny could still see the twerky grin pulling at the edges of his mouth. Bunny was shocked. Brink of death and back and the Guardian of Fun was still cracking jokes. This made Bunny furious but he couldn't help but grin as well. "Ya little shit" Bunny muttered gaining another smile from the still flushed winter spirit.

"Errgg" Jack groaned swallowing harshly and taking another ragged breath "It's so hot...I feel like I've been hit by a truck" Jack could tell his voice was rough and strained. It hurt to talk. Hell, It hurt to Breathe.

"Firs' of all its freezing and you're crazy. Second, ya nearly killed yerself back there." Bunny explained, "Tooth and I thought you were gonna melt! Whad'ya expect ta feel like after that? Eh Frosty where ya goin look alive mate!" Jack hadn't even realized his eye had closed before Bunny rudely smacked his face as a wake up call.

"I'm not going anywhere Kangaroo," Jack said angrily all the while struggling to keep his eyes opened. His lids were so heavy. "I'm just gonna rest. I'll still be right here" Jack said allowing his eyes to slip closed once more, inhaling deeply, but still with a few hitches. Bunny glared at the motionless form of the winter spirit but decided the rise and fall of Jack's chest was enough to calm his worries. Bunny allowed himself to take slight comfort in the fact that Jack's flushed cheeks were slowly returning to their normal color, a light bluish hue.

Bunny reached out and placed a tentative paw on the winter guardian's forehead. He lingered for a moment, feeling the oddity that was warmth radiating from the usually frozen body. Surely that was not a good sign. He pulled his paw away and tucked his arm with the other one folded across his chest. A swift wind whirled past Bunny as he sat outside, causing him to shiver violently. It was just then that he realized how _cold_ he was. The sweat on his fur had all but frozen in patches and frost was creeping up his back. He shivered again and tried to shake some of the ice out of his coat, only successfully freeing a few shards.

"Bunny.." Jack all but whispered, his voice sounding in pain.

"Wah is it mate?" Bunny said through chattering teeth. Jack's eyes were still closed but he cracked them open just enough to see the large Easter guardian.

"Go inside, its cold out.." Jack trailed off the crack in his eye closing again to exhaustion.

Bunny chuckled at the irony "Aw" *Shiver* "An' you care too mate" Bunny nudged Jack's shoulder earning himself a grin, though the winter spirit's eye remained closed.

"I'm serious, I don't think Kangaroos were meant to leave the outback" Jack struggled again to make eye contact with the shivering rabbit. "Just put me in the snow bank and I'll be fine. I don't need you hovering" Jack said trying to put reassurance into his scratchy voice.

Bunny shivered again and considered. He was torn between his physical discomfort and the mingling of worry and guilt over the Guardian of Fun.

"I'm the patient here and you follow my orders" Jack rasped again trying to make his point. He could tell Bunny was going to freeze to death if he didn't get inside soon, but the stubborn bastard was hard to tell off most of the time.

Bunny chuckled at Jack's weak effort to sound strong. "Alright Frostbite you don't need to tell me again. But I'm back out here in 5 minutes to check on ya. Got it?" Bunny said finally shifting his weight to kneel so he could move Jack back into the snow.

Jack hissed at the movement of his body as he was lifted and placed gently into the banking. Bunny tried to move him with as little amount of jarring as possible but was amazed the winter spirit still cringed in pain. Poor little bugger.

"Mmh tuck me in.." Jack mumbled as he settled into the snow. Bunny raised an eye brow at that request. Either Jack was going delirious or was already out of his mind. Either way Bunny decided to comply and scooped snow from the bank and 'tucked' Jack into the snowy blanket. After that the rabbit turned on his heels and hopped back toward the door leading to the work shop, suddenly very anxious to get out of the cold.

"Crieky its freezin! I can't feel my ears!" Bunny bounded over to the fire and all but stuck his whole body into the hearth, relishing the warmth. After a few seconds of burning bliss he began to feel the ice melt and trickle off his fur, sending cold chills across his body. As he sat he began to wonder where the others were. Surely at least Sandy would be finished his rounds by now. Bunny hoped it was soon because he was starting to feel awkward about abandoning Jack in a snow bank.

* * *

_Well so much for a one shot..It's not even going to be a two-shot! I'm sorry this chapter is so drastically shorter than the first but I just felt like posting something and I haven't had enough time to write up too much more. _

_ Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and especially reviewed my story! It means so much to me! _

_A few reviewers pointed out I made an extremely dumb mistake in the way North was traveling...Really very embarrassing on my part haha. I went back and tried to fix it though. I'm not quite sure if I got out all the kinks but I tried! Thank you for telling me!_

_No idea when the next chapter is coming but hopefully soon!_


	3. Chapter 3

Suddenly Bunny heard North's booming voice echoing from the stairwell that lead from the launch pad back into the globe room. It was Tooth who fluttered up first though. She flitted over to Bunny who was just starting to get feeling back in his paws.

"Oh Bunny where's Jack? Is he alright? North just got back and he's going to take over. Sandy's not here yet but we're sure he's on his way as well. But Bunny, where did you put Jack? Oh you have ice in your whiskers" Tooth stumbled over her words quickly, then paused as she picked a few frozen droplets from the large rabbit's face.

"Well if ya would just slow down an let me tell ya," Bunny said, flustered as he batted Tooth's hands away from his face, "He's sleeping out in the snow bank. He told me to leave 'im be for a little. Said he was fine." Tooth nodded in understanding just as North reached the top level and came into sight. The Christmas spirit looked worse for wear. They couldn't forget he had been doing the hardest job of all, popping in and out of chimneys all night. While they had simply tossed the sacs, he had needed to organize each present inside and deliver them to their respective houses.

"Where is he? I should have know! Fire is bad for winter spirit. Didn't even cross my mind! A fool I am" North looked almost as guilty as Bunny felt. They all should have realized this fact, even if Jack had brushed it off as nothing.

"He's out here North. We had to get him into the cold. His body was overheating in the workshop," Tooth bit her lip nervously fluttering over to the rickety door to the porch waiting for North to follow. Bunny sighed and regretfully decided to leave the warmth of the fire to go check on the frost child with the others.

North pushed the door open and stepped into the sunny arctic climate and onto the wooden porch. the only thing that could be seen of the winter spirit were a few pale toes sticking out of the snow bank and the top of his spiked white hair, which was halfway frozen in an awkward way because of the sweat that had plastered it to his head. Tooth fluttered out behind North who knelt down next to the bank and pushed aside the snow to reveal the rest of their newest guardian. Bunny lingered in the doorway still weary of the cold.

'Nuhhh" Jack clench his eyes shut tighter as the snow was pushed from his face to allow the bright morning sun to invade his closed eyelids.

"Jack are you awake?" Tooth asked in a motherly tone "Are you feeling better?"

"No" Jack croaked his voice low and raspy as he groaned and tried to turn his head away from the light and back to his blissful sleep. He wasn't able to realize his pounding headache and throbbing chest when he was sleeping. His whole body didn't hurt while he was asleep either.

Tooth sighed at his answer. Jack was truly out of sorts to be so brutally honest when he usually hid behind lies of wellbeing.

"Jack," North said brushing more snow off of the small guardians legs. "Do you think we can bring you inside now? We will keep it cool for you. It will be easier to check your health, ya?" North looked tired as he said this. It had been a long Christmas eve and he had not expected to have to deal with something like this after his immediate return.

With what looked like great effort, Jack rolled his head to face the voice and cracked his eyelids apart. North's face was tired and sad. He had the concerned look of a father ailing over a dear son. The image caused Jack a pang of guilt over the fact that he was causing his friends such worry. On Christmas for goodness sake! Jack was also touched at North's blatant worry for his health. That was why he decided to go calmly, even though he would have rather stayed tucked away from the world and his agony. He swallowed audibly closing his eyes again and nodded, knowing the movement was going to jar his painful body.

North sighed, relieved that at least the boy was complying without a fight. Tooth worried her lip as she watched Jack. He looked so frail and weak. It wasn't comforting to see the usually energetic guardian reduced to such a withered state.

"Bunny. Would you go move the couch away from the fire. Put it under the window. Oh and make sure window is open." North ordered. Bunny didn't complain seeing as his job involved remaining out of the cold. "And Tooth, would you gather snow and ice in buckets? We will still need those to cool fever," North placed one of his massive hands over the boys forehead and was just as displeased as Bunny to find it warm.

"Right," Tooth said zipping out of sight to find containers to hold the snow.

"Alright Jack. Ready?" Jack braced himself as he felt North's arms slide beneath his upper back and under the crook of his knees. In as smooth a motion as possible, North lifted the nearly weightless body into his strong arms bridal style.

"Fuuuuuuuhhh!" Jack gasped half a curse word passing his lips but he trailed it off, surprisingly still having enough sense not to swear in front of North. His entire abdomen burst with pain. It felt like his insides had been removed crudely and replace with red hot coals. The sudden flare practically caused him to lose consciousness, his vision coming in and out of focus as the pain consumed him.

North concernedly acknowledged Jack's discomfort but proceeded to re enter the workshop. Bunny had indeed moved the couch far from the fire and to a crook under a large window which was opened enough to allow a frigid wind into the shop. Small flakes of snow blew about the globe room in the breeze.

"Gentle with 'im, mate" Bunny said while North lowered Jack onto the couch. A pillow had been propped against the arm of the chair so Jack's upper body was still elevated. The winter spirit hissed when he touched down and North drew his hands from under him.

Jack could hear the two guardians voices above him but they seemed to fade in and out. He was so groggy it was amazing he was still aware at all. He was sure that would change soon though.

"Bring me all medical supplies we have," North ordered a few yetis who were present. He said these words gently, however, knowing all the yetis would be exhausted after the night and deserved a rest, not another task.

"North, what are our orders, how are we gonna fix Frosty here?" Bunny asked gesturing to the still form of Jack. North brought a hand up to rub his tired eyes, not completely sure. He did have medical knowledge but he was no expert on dealing with a seasonal spirit such as Jack that relied so heavily on their element. North shook his head thinking of the next move. He was interrupted though as a creaking window pulled him out of his thoughts.

Both North and Bunny perked as a very tired looking Sandy floated in through a window on the far side of the room. He had obviously been working just as hard as the rest of them and was exhausted from the long night. Sandy smiled tiredly at his two fellow guardians but faltered at their anxious expressions. That was when his eyes fell to the form on the couch. Instantly, Sandy's eyes widened in concern and confusion. What had he missed!?

A series of frantic question marks and exclamation points burst above his head as he floated to the frost spirits side. The boy wasn't even aware of his presence. Sandy looked between the two taller guardians for answers of why their Guardian of Fun was currently unresponsive.

"He's gone and got imself over heated," Bunny sent an undeserving angry look at the still Jack, blaming him for the twisting feeling of guilt and worry that curled in his stomach. "Gone and practically melted 'imself"

"I've got the snow!" Tooth burst into the room with enthusiasm, almost comically as she was covered in frost and ice, balancing four large buckets in various odd ways.

"Good, good bring it here," North and Bunny both helped her lower the buckets to the floor. "Most important thing is to get Jack cold again," North stated rolling up his red sleeves and picking up a handful of snow. He began packing it around Jack, who had apparently lost consciousness again at some point. The others followed suit and proceeded to surround the boy with the cold substance, mimicking what he would have gotten outside in the snow bank.

Sandy was deeply saddened by the fact that Jack had fallen ill. The short man packed the snow as gently as he could around the frail body. This was probably the last thing Sandy had expected upon his return.

Tooth thanked a yeti as he lowered a crate of medical supplies to the floor. She rummaged through it before she found what she was looking for, a thermometer. The one she had found was thin, old fashioned, and mercury based, clearly showing the datedness of North's medical supplies. It was a good thing that they were rarely used, but a bad thing that the lack of need also caused a lack of update.

Bunny took the thermometer out of her hand as she gave it to him. None of the guardians had dealt with a medical emergency for centuries so it was fair to say they were all a bit out of practice. Bunny shook the thermometer once or twice before gently prying Jack's slack jaw open and sliding the glass instrument under his tongue. Bunny held Jack's mouth closed, waiting for the mercury to rise.

All the while, Sandy, North and Tooth continued to form a makeshift snow bank for Jack. After about three minutes Bunny pulled the thermometer out of the winter spirit's mouth, the glass clinking gently against his teeth.

"78.6" Bunny whistled. That was high. Jack was known to run a normal temperature just around 40 degrees F. Cold enough to be wintry, while warm enough not to freeze his own fluids. It was actually a rather complicated system. "That ain't good"

"We must monitor his temperature and make sure it comes down," North sighed "We should change the snow every hour or so, also."

"Mate, maybe you should go take a rest. You've been through a lot I imagine,"

Sandy nodded, flashing symbols of agreement, however he should not have been talking as he looked just about as tired as North. It was only the fact that they were immortal guardians that they were even able to do such work. No human could have possibly completed any of the tasks they had just accomplished in that time span. Despite their resilience, they still needed to take care of their bodies.

"Bunny is right North," Tooth nodding, lacking her usual enthusiasm. "You should go take a rest, we will keep an eye on Jack and tell you if there are any changes."

"Tooth, Sandy, you should go too," Bunny said folding his arm. "We all need rest and its doing no one any good if we all jus' sit around waitin for for Frosty here to animate. I'll take the first shift."

All three guardians exchanged looks, before nodding in agreement. Sure they were all worried about Jack but it was true that watching him sleep was going to help no one. They all really were pushed to their limits. "Alright but you will tell us if Jack wakes. You must check his vitals every 20 minutes too. And don't forget to change snow," North said tiredly, hesitant to leave.

"I got it, North" Bunny said seriously, urging them all to go.

Slowly, and with much resistance, the three guardians retired to sleeping quarters, Sandy and Tooth taking residence in a few of North's many guest rooms. Bunny sighed tiredly. He had absolutely _no_ idea why he had just volunteered himself to sleep deprivation for Jack's sake. It seemed ironic that he was actually warming up to a winter spirit.

Bunny pulled a wooden chair up right next to the couch. The frost child looked to be in a peaceful sleep, which was actually reassuring to Bunny, who felt his own eyes sagging. He shook himself slightly, knowing he could not fall asleep on the job. He busied himself with going to collect more snow into the buckets off of the porch they had originally put Jack on. He filled the buckets but left them in the cold, ready to collect when needed. Once that was done, he figured he would get his first readings.

Shuffling through the bin of supplies, Bunny pulled out a pen light, a stethoscope and a blood pressure cuff. Like North, he had some medical training but with such little use of it, he wasn't quite sure he remembered all the fine details.

Careful not to move Jack to much, Bunny clumsily took his blood pressure, which turned out to be considerably low, at least for that of a human. He wasn't completely sure what the Guardian of Fun's pressure usually was, but the rabbit mentally stowed the reading on his "concerns" list. Next he used the stethoscope to listen to Jack's heart and breathing.

The heart sounds seemed normal enough, but his lungs still sounded a little wheezy. Another concern. Bunny too Jack's temperature once more, which had only gone down about a degree, but hey, that was something. He finished by checking Jack's pulse, watching a wall clock as the second hand ticked by. His pulse was also quite sluggish, which Bunny hoped would change at his next reading. The Spirit of Hope recorded all the information he had just gathered on a piece of notebook paper before leaning back into the wooden chair.

Again, Bunny felt his eyes drooping, but this time it was much harder to resist. He stared at the clock, noting its minute hand. It blurred slightly, as his eyes fought the fatigue. Maybe he would just rest his eyes. No more than a few seconds. It was just a long blink right? No harm done. Startled suddenly, Bunny looked back at the clock.

"Crieky!" It had been nearly forty minutes! He hadn't even noticed he had dozed off. Wildly he looked to Jack, who thankfully, hadn't moved an inch. He looked just the same, sleeping contentedly. Bunny sagged in relief that he hadn't failed his job at keeping an eye on Jack. The snow however, was beginning to melt. Bunny regretfully pulled himself out of the chair. He needed to remember not to sleep sitting upright. His back was officially knotted like a rope.

Bunny collected the buckets from outside and brought them in, beginning to pack the snow lightly around Jack and brushing away the melted water. After he was done he would check his vitals again.

* * *

Jack could feel the cool snow being packed around his body. It was a small comfort but he was still riddled with pain and groaned as his body was jostled lightly. He barely noticed when the gentle movement ceased and was about to succumb to nothingness when someone rudely pried his eyelid oped and blinded him with a bright beam of light.

Jack grunted indignantly at the invasion of personal space and struggled to move his arms to push the beam away but failed miserably. At least his noise of protested had caused the invasive touch to unhand him. But he was yet again bothered by the foreign touch, this time prodding his chest. Jack was not quite sure what the big idea was, but he was pretty sure it was socially frowned upon to fondle a person while they were sleeping. Jack roused himself getting ready to tell whoever it was off for their behavior when the world came rushing back to him.

Pain. Heat. Thirst.

* * *

_Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! You all are really great :)_

_Sorry I am not updating very quickly. Nursing school just got reeaalll! Last semester was easy 4-0. All electives. No time put in out of class. This semester is actually getting into assessment and pathophysiology and clinicals! yay for learning about that stuff but papers, studying, and homework till you die! I have noooo time between sports school, homework, and life haha _

_No idea when this will be updated but I am determined for my story to one day have a little "completed" sign on it. It shall happen! Next chapter may be the last but no promises!_

_Oh and I again apologize for spelling and grammatical errors of all sorts! Please don't hate! ahh!_


	4. Chapter 4

Jack's eyes snapped open as he gasped from the pain. Green eyes met blue and Jack found, for the second time that day, he was alone with the Easter spirit.

"Easy there Frostbite," Bunny said, coming over the initial shock of Jack's sudden awakening. Bunny had been only inches away from the winter spirit, palpating his chest lightly, when Jack had jolted into consciousness, startling the large rabbit.

Jack simply stared into the furry face his breathing ragged and harsh, eyes unfocussed. Bunny was unsure if Jack was really all there yet. "You feeling any better, Jack?" Bunny asked trying to trigger some type of sign that Jack even recognized where he was.

Said child blinked rapidly, apparently trying to reel himself back into reality, until his blue eyes twinkled with an obviously very aware Jack Frost. The rapidness of his awakening must have startled him as much as it had Bunny.

Slowly Jack took in the present. He vaguely remembered North carrying him into the workshop but not much after that. Currently he was laid on a couch, half propped with a few pillows. A cool breeze blew in from an open window to brush his hair into slight motion.

"Jack?" Bunny said again, worried at the lack of response. With toned skills of observation and assessment, the Easter spirit realized Jack's hand had subconsciously moved to his chest, clutching the white fabric of his crew neck t-shirt. His face was slightly drawn with pain, while his neck and shoulder muscled worked visibly to draw in breaths.

Bunny may not have been a certified doctor with all the training, but he had once, a long time ago, been promisingly sufficient in the medical field. It seemed these skills were reawakening with the current situation. He supposed this was a bit like riding a bike, something one never forgot.

"I.." Jack tried to speak but was unable to as he broke into a fit of heavy productive coughs. His lungs seemed laden with fluid, and there wasn't much Bunny could do but place a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder and wait for him to get things back under control.

Bunny watched as Jack worked furiously through his coughing fit until he finally spat up a copious amount of clear sputum, which Bunny wiped away with a handkerchief. The only comfort that could be taken from this was the fact that Jack was able to remove some of the blocking mucus from his lungs. Also the fact that it was clear indicated no infection. Unfortunately, it seemed Jack still could not get a breath in, even after expelling the thick substance.

Suddenly remembering the others and his promise to wake them, Bunny looked around for a messenger, knowing full well he couldn't leave Jack's side at the moment. "You!" Bunny yelled, pointing a furry paw at a lone elf tottering by. The thing pointed at itself happily, but stupidly.

"Go and wake North. Tell him Jack's awake," The elf nodded vigorously, clearly excited about its task. Its tiny legs scuttled away and out of sight. Bunny watched, rather dismayed, as it reemerged, traveling in the opposite direction, clearly having gone the wrong way on its first attempt.

Bunny's face fell into his palm as he shook his head. If that message ever made it he would tell North Christmas was best himself. Still holding the stethoscope, he turned his attention back to Jack, realizing he could not afford to worry over something like that when there were much bigger problems to be dealt with.

The guardian of hope reached into the medical supply kit still lying on the floor within reach of the winter spirit. He pulled out a very dusty, but functional, stethoscope and began rubbing the diaphragm of the tool to clear it of debris that could throw off sound.

"Okay Jack, don't say anythin' if ya can't manage. Im just gonna take a listen, alrigh' ?" Jack had finished his fit, and now sat huffing and puffing like he was going to blow a house down. Bunny noticed half mindedly as he looked into Jack's face that his lips were tinged blue. This could either mean he was returning to a 'healthy' cold state, or it could be a sign of cyanosis, and lack of oxygen. It was hard to tell sometimes when the winter spirits health idea of 'normal' was so abnormal. Either way, Bunny hoped for the first option. "If ya can, Frostbite, just follow my directions alrigh'?"

Jack seemed a bit bewildered that he would be possibly taking orders but nodded, hoping he would have his full breathing abilities back sooner rather than later. He was getting tired from all the effort. Who knew something so simple could become so difficult?

Bunny seemed satisfied with Jack's compliance. "First thing, I'm gonna have ta have ya sitting upright all the way, think ya can manage?" Jack immediately looked worried with eyebrows furrowing together. How was he going to even attempt to sit up when he could barely keep his lungs working?! There was absolutely no way.

"I'll help ya don't worry. It'll probably be a little easier for ya to breath too" Bunny said optimistically, trying to convince the child. He wasn't sure if sitting up would actually help Jack but he had to get a proper listen to those lungs. He needed to see what they were up against, even though he already had a pretty good idea.

Jack's eye's were clearly still untrusting and reluctant, but he again, nodded at the rabbit.

Nodding back a sign of thanks, Bunny gently scooted his paws under Jack's upper and lower back. He worked as carefully as possible, remembering how motion had seemed to cause Jack such bouts of pain. This movement was not much different. Jack couldn't make many sounds but he chocked weakly as his body was propped into a full upright position. He effortfully tried to help Bunny with the move, flexing his abdominals and weakly grasping the upper half of the couch, but he really doubted he was much help. Either way, they had done it.

Jack hunched, his muscles protesting the position and the work needed for it. Worst of all the damned rabbit had lied! His lung were no easier to inflate than they had been moments ago. Jack glared half heartedly at Bunny for this, even though it wasn't his fault. He just needed something to take his frustration out on.

Bunny noticed Jack's angry look and deduced the position probably hadn't much helped him for comfort, but he shrugged it off. It was for his own good, and he knew deep down Jack knew too.

"Okay tha's perfect. Now we can take a listen. If ya can, do what I say" Bunny said. He wasn't really looking for Jack's input at this point. He inserted the buds of the scope into his ears and slipped the diaphragm under Jack's shirt and placed it softly against the skin of Jack's upper back, listening for vesicular sounds.

Not surprised, but very dismayed, Bunny heard the pitiful sounds of the winter spirit's lungs. Without even asking for a deep breath clear wheezes could be heard, indicating a narrowing of air pathways, and swelling. Bunny moved his scope laterally, to compare each lung. Left and right both sounded equally shitty.

"If ya can, take a deep breath for me, Jack" Not very hard orders, it would seem, but Bunny knew this would probably be a challenge for the youngest guardian. Bunny nearly winced at Jack's inhale. Clearly a struggle, what Jack did manage to pull in caused a loud domino effect of coarse crackles. Bunny moved his scope laterally once more, "Alrigh' and another if you're able" Bunny almost didn't want to hear it again but needed to for a proper assessment.

At inspiration and slightly through expiration, the same low pitched gurgling could be heard. It sounded almost as if someone was pulling velcro apart. This indicated Jack's fine airways were mostly sealed with fluid. On each inhale, they were popping open, reluctantly suctioning away from each other as air entered. Clearly very inefficient.

Bunny would have loved to assess more but realized Jack's form sagging ever deeper as minutes passed. It was rather sad to know that just sitting upright was nearly impossible for the usually spunky guardian. "Thank's Jack, tha's all I needed," Bunny helped lower Jack onto the pillows. The boy moaned audibly this time, which summoned a few wet coughs, but nothing more.

Bunny, feeling very awake suddenly, realized that if they hoped to clear Jack's lungs, they were going to need the proper medicine. He wasn't completely skilled enough to know the exact treatment, but he figured he would easily be able to look it up. Probably some kind of nebulizer or inhaler would do the trick. The next question was if North even had it in stock.

Bunny made a move to stand up but stopped when Jack's hand shot out and sort of limply tried to halt the motion. His blue eye's were panicky, and his wheezing was audible without the stethoscope. "Wait.." Jack tried, but could not speak, his lungs protested violently.

Bunny leaned forward in true sympathy. Who knew the winter spirit could elicit such emotion from him? Bunny was just starting to accept these facts as the day wore on. "I'm not goin' far, Jack. I'm gonna go find what you need to get better. Get you breathing righ' again." Bunny stated as Jack's eyes darted back and forth over his face, looking for any ideation of desertion.

Finding none Jack swallowed, his eyes shimmering with what must have been fear. Bunny realized Jack probably was experiencing a similar feeling to drowning, when you thought of it. Jack could barely get enough oxygen with all the blockage in his lungs.

"Hurry.." Jack choked out clutching at his chest again. Bunny nodded, promising himself silently he would not be gone longer than a minute. He would be quick as his name sake. All he had to do was wake the others and he could be back by Jack's side.

"I will" Bunny nodded assuringly. He had no idea why he was feeling such protectiveness over Jack. He would have to chalk it up to his guardian instincts.

Bunny watched as Jack's hand, which had been slightly gripped around his knee, went limp. The winter spirit rolled his head back to center and coughed futilely. His eyebrows stayed furrowed as his chest rose and fell in an uneven manner that worried the rabbit to no end. His eyes were now clenched closed as he focussed all his power into supplying his body with oxygen.

This was Bunny's cue to leave. He hated that he had to, but with that realization, he stood purposefully and turned on his heal. He raced towards North's room on the upper levels of the workshop.

It didn't take long for the rabbit to bound up the multiple flights of stairs zagging their way around the building. He veered off down a hallway leading past an array of different rooms and doors. The workshop was huge.

As Bunny ran he caught a quick glimpse of the little elf he had sent on its mission. It was, at the moment, standing confusedly, hand scratching its head as it peered around, obviously lost. Bunny rolled his eyes, but did not stop to tell the thing, 'good effort, but I'm gonna take it from here.'

It was then that Bunny finally reached his destination. In record time he must say. A great red door at the end of the hallway marked the entrance to North's room.

"Aye, North I need ya now," Bunny yelled as he threw the door open. He panted tiredly and relaxed his shoulder muscles only slightly. It seemed his outburst had not triggered Norths awakening. Bunny, still breathing heavily, made his way over to the great bed that held the Christmas guardian.

Bunny looked down into the tired face of North, and almost regretted waking him up, but quickly overcame that guilt. With ease in fact.

"North, ya oaf, wake up!" Bunny combined his loud yell with a few brisk shakes of the man's shoulders.

"Wa? Is it morning?" North, startled from his sleep, was a bit confused but quickly snapped back to reality at the sight of Bunny's wild looking eyes, disheveled hair, and stressed demeanor.

"Is Jack boy awake. Is he okay?" North pushed the rabbit out of the way as he pulled himself out of bed. He had not even taken off his red coat to sleep and was fully dressed other than his boots of course.

"He's not lookin so good, North. His lungs are enflammed," Bunny tried to explain quickly, knowing every moment he stayed with North was another moment Jack spent alone, his battle for air a solitary one. "He can't breathe, an we need medicine, we need a nebulizer, and a canister of oxygen" Bunny grappled with his own thoughts, trying to convey what Jack must need, even though he was really no trained physician. These things he could only guess.

North looked worried. He quickly pulled his boots on, completing his outfit. "I am not sure what I have, but Yeti's do keep stock" The Guardian of Wonder, strode out of the room, Bunny trailing behind, at a loss of what to do next.

"North, we gotta wake the others, but I left Jack ta come get you. I need to go back," Bunny verbalized his stressor, already starting to hop back in the direction toward the globe room where Jack was.

"I will be there shortly," North said. "With the others, and with what is needed,"

Thankfully, the rabbit was able to nod curtly before returning his movement toward the winter spirit. He caught a glimpse of North beginning his swift journey to where Sandy and Tooth were sleeping.

It didn't take a minute before the rabbit stood, panting, back in front of Jack, who remained on the coach. Green eyes scanned over the body of the boy, taking in what he could.

Jack had relaxed visibly, his face no longer contracted. In fact Bunny wasn't sure if he was moving at all. Or breathing. Bunny's heart and stomach flip flopped as he panicked. There was no way Jack had died on them.

"Oy! Jack, come back to us!" In his panic, the rabbit knelt next to the coach, and rather roughly jostled the winter spirit, praying for a response. Fortunately for Bunny, but unfortunately for Jack, the winter guardian's eyes flew open, and deep ragged coughs filled the room once more.

"..the.._fuck_!?" Jack wheezed out. His eyes were shooting straight daggers at Bunny now. You try breathing through a straw for an extended amount of time and see what kind of good mood it puts you in. Jack might as well have been sucking air from a straw seeing as how enflamed his bronchioles must have been at the moment.

Bunny relaxed and was surprised that he had no opposition to the winter spirits sass. It meant the old Jack was still alive underneath all the pain and trauma. He did feel a little bad about shaking him so hard though.

"Sorry mate, I thought you were dead," Jack glared at the rabbit furiously before giving up and shutting his eyes once more. He was getting sleepy and it was becoming hard to stay awake.

Bunny frowned as he looked Jack over, the boy had grown increasingly pale and his lips stood out a stark blue against his face. A bluish tinge also colored his nail beds. The large rabbit brought a hand up to Jack's forehead, recently realizing he had been neglecting the 3 other vital signs for quite some time now. Jack did feel cooler, but Bunny had serious doubts the cyanosis was from the change in temperature. Bunny did not think a normal Jack was a blue Jack.

"North had better hurry," Bunny said, pulling his paw away. Jack continued his labored breathing, and Bunny just hoped it was his imagination that it was getting worse.

* * *

_Welp, I posted something. What is wrong with me I have a huge test Wednesday! I guess now that this is out of the way I can focus on studying :)_

_Sorry not much happened in this chapter..this story is apparently very slow moving. And has a lot more chapters than I thought it would! Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooon! I will have a break in a couple of weeks so it will be posted at least by then, unless I get excited about writing and can't hold it in. I really shouldn't neglect my school work though..._

_Thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following! I am sorry about the grammar and spelling mistakes too! Always am but thats the best its gonna get. and i dont care enough to fix it just sayinnggg! Please no hate! I am not here to become an author just for fun :)_


	5. Chapter 5

Bunny tapped his foot and looked around the shop impatiently. He couldn't believe how long North was taking! Maybe it hadn't been more than five minutes but it felt like an eternity, especially as Jack sat in front of him, turning bluer by the minute.

"Okay Jack, you're doing good, we're gonna fix ya up in no time, jus hang in there snowball. Keep tha air movin'," Bunny figured it might help Jack if he had a little verbal distraction, but Bunny was beginning to question Jack's lucidity. As his blood oxygen levels decreased, no doubt his mental status did as well.

A small groan escaped from Jack as he coughed weakly again. His coughs were beginning to sound dry and harsh. The wheezing was getting worse too. It seemed the mucus was slowly clearing but leaving the inflammation to run its course in hindering Jack's oxygen intake.

"North, I swear I'm gonna _kill _ya for this," Bunny muttered to himself, watching the winter spirit's condition slowly deteriorate. It was torture knowing there was nothing he could do at the moment. He would need North to bring the medical books, the supplies, and the medicine. Without that there was nothing to do but provide the best gosh darn moral support that he could.

"Hey, Jack you're gonna be okay, I know you're a fighta, like me. I mean, ya still couldn't beat me if ya tried but you're not gonna let a little thing like this knock you outta the game, righ?" Bunny may not have been the best at moral support but at least he was trying. Jack actually turned his head to Bunny and opened his eyes to get a look at the rabbit. His expression was crossed between confusion, and almost amusement at the easter guardian's futile attempts to distract him. The next cough could have even passed for a slight chuckle. Maybe.

It was funny to Jack that just over a year ago the Easter kangaroo had been cursing his name. Now he was blabbering on, making a fool of himself, just to make Jack feel a little better. It was an odd feeling to realize how much things had changed in such a short period of time.

Suddenly, or perhaps not so suddenly, Jack realized his mind was foggy. The rabbit in front of him swam in and out, and for a moment he forgot where he was. Did Bunny have four ears or two? And why in the world could he not breath? He was losing his grasp on reality, as less oxygen flowed to his brain.

Bunny watched as Jack's eyes sparkled with amusement, but quickly faded into what Bunny could only describe as complete disorientation. "Jack, jus' focus, yeah?" Bunny tried. So focused on Jack, Bunny was startled by the sudden eruption of movement that sprung up behind him.

"Bunny! Good news and band news," North entered the globe area just at that moment, hauling with him more bins that were no doubt filled with medical supplies. Behind him floated both Sandy and Tooth, who also carried various tools of medicine. Bunny thankfully noticed that Sandy was holding what looked like an oxygen tank. That was definitely going to be put to use. There was no doubt that Jack's oxygen saturation had to be below 80% at this point.

"Good news, I believe I have what we need. Bad news, it may be ah...bit out of date,"

The three entering guardian's gathered around the couch, placing the items onto the floor. They all looked pale with worry as they glanced at Jack. It wasn't until then that Bunny noticed how drastically Jack's condition had declined in the few moments it took to look away.

Jack's airways had clearly constricted further, his breath sounds over come by wheezing. The worst and largest change was his suddenly acquired ineffective breathing pattern. His breaths had changed from impaired, but steady, to utter tachypnea. The short rapid breaths were alarming to say the least and Bunny knew it was only a matter of moments before it would be too late for Jack.

"Time's up! Forget the dates. We need some kind of inhaler. A bronco-dilator. Quick, he's gettin' worse!"

North muttered what must have been a crude word before ripping open a bin and rustling through the jumbled of supplies.

Bandages, no. Needles, no. Catheters, no. Sandy and Tooth had followed suit without any hesitation. They too rummaged through the items with speed.

Bunny had busied himself with Jack once more. He pleaded with the winter spirit to breathe, to calm, and to live.

"C'mon Jack you were doin' so well! Ya gotta focus mate, focus. Slow it down, and focus," Bunny was pretty sure Jack's body had taken over for him, as the winter spirit just stared up at him with scared eyes, unable to do anything the rabbit requested.

Jack could feel his body weakening as less and less air reached his alveoli and blood stream. It was only due to his super human being that he still held onto consciousness.

It was true that the guardians were physically superior to humans and could never expire from age, but even the guardians were not exempt from regular physiological processes. Immortal or not, most of their energy still came from glycolysis, the krebs cycle, and electron transport chains. All processes that desperately required oxygen.

"Got it!" Tooth suddenly yelled with vigor. She held up a small nebulizer. Even without experience Bunny thought the thing looked old and out of date. Bunny prayed the medicine would still hold some of its effects. They just needed to stall. Give Jack some time before they could figure out a new plan.

"Give it here," Bunny snatched the inhaler from Tooth, who was not at all offended, seeing as the situation was so dire. Manners were thrown out the window. Tooth in the meantime, picked up another inhaler that had been with the one Bunny was currently shaking furiously. She turned it over and glanced at the date. Her heart plummeted when she saw it was nearly ten years old. All these drugs had no doubt lost their potency and effectiveness years ago.

"North all these are expired! They're not going to work," Tooth choked, her eyes welling at the stressful situation.

"No, don't say such things Tooth!" North knew she was right but furiously prayed the inhaler would have some effect on Jack, even a slight one.

Sandy was just as panicked as his fellow guardians. There was no way Jack was going to survive on all these expired medications. Hastily, Sandy flashed images above his head, praying North would interpret them correctly as they were short of time. He used symbols to communicate their need for a non-expired inhaler. If he needed to be the retriever, so be it.

"Sandy, you are right. We must get new supplies. There is town to South East. They will have these," North didn't even have to finish before Sandy was in motion. There wasn't going to be any other way to obtain what they needed other than raiding the hospital. The little golden man, face set in stone, streaked to the window, a sandy airplane forming around him before he had even left the building. North watched his retreating back momentarily, before turing his attention to the chaotic scene playing out. He felt useless as he watched.

Bunny had heard Tooth's claim of the medicine's expiration and with his peripheries taken in Sandy's departure. All this was simply back ground for his main focus. Still he considered Tooth's observation. He knew full well there was a better chance that the inhaler would be so degraded that it would have no effect, but it couldn't hurt to try. To pray for a miracle.

After shaking the inhaler profusely, Bunny popped the cap off with the pad of his paw. Roughly, and without any hesitation, the rabbit jammed the small tool into Jack's mouth and pressed down on the top, a small puffing sound audible.

"Deep breath!" Bunny all but yelled at the winter spirit who barely clung to consciousness. He did however, appear to try and inhale deeply. This was not very noticeable however, as his rate continued sporadically. Bunny shook his head, refusing to believe there was no effect. He pulled the inhaler away and shook it again.

Tooth was all but in tears at this point. North had slipped a comforting hang behind her back and rubbed her shoulder roughly in comfort. He was just as worried as she was.

Meanwhile, Bunny shoved the thing back into Jack's mouth, colliding roughly with teeth and gums. Jack weakly responded by closing his lips around the object. "Deep breath again," Bunny gruffly stated before pressing down on the inhaler, releasing the compressed air inside.

This time when Bunny pulled it away, Jack was able to take one huge inhale, finally able to fill his lungs. His wheezing prevailed but his respiratory pattern seemed to be evening out. He was gaining control. The inhaler may not have had the total effect, but it had helped, and that was all Bunny had hoped.

"What'd I tell ya huh frosty. You're a fighta. Battles not halfway done yet though. Soon though, just hang in there" Bunny noticed subconsciously his paws were shaking as he placed the now near useless inhaler on the floor. They would have to wait for Sandy to finish up the job.

North watched with at least a slight amount of relief as Jack continued to breathe, and impressively enough, remain conscious through the whole ordeal. However, North really did hate feeling useless and looked around for anything he could do to help. That was when he remembered the oxygen. Tooth watched as North grabbed the O2 tank from the floor and brought it to the couch side, where Bunny still muttered rambling encouragement to the winter spirit.

"Tooth, we must find the attachment for this. It may be old, but is still good. Will help too," With a bit more rummaging Tooth pulled a plastic mask and matching tube from one of the bins. She brought it to the tank and hooked the connections until they had a fully rigged system. North then screwed the valve open and felt for the gentle stream of air flow until he was satisfied it was present. He then handed the mask to Bunny who grasped it tightly and secured it over the winter child's face, not bothering to strap it on. He simply held it there with his paw, which still shook slightly from stress.

Jack, who had not improved greatly, wondered blearily what was being pushed over his face. At first he protested weakly and tried to bat the hands away, but soon gave up. He barely made out Bunny reassuring him the strange mask was going to help and Jack was too tired to question it.

It was a odd state really. Jack could tell his eyes were open, but it was as if they were not taking in his surroundings. Or maybe it was just by the time the images were making their way to the back of his head he was already forgetting them. He may have caught a glimpse of North, and maybe he had seen Tooth too, but there was no way to be sure.

Bunny watched the winter spirit's face as he gasped into the mask. The poor boy's eyes were open but Bunny was sure they were, for the most part, unseeing. He looked and seemed completely out of it. Despite this, Bunny was still extremely happy they had made it through that attack. The inhaler had definitely been very diluted from its original purpose, but it had done something. Given Jack just enough clearance to continue on the ragged intakes he was calling breaths.

The next part Bunny thanked Manny for was the oxygen. This would no doubt be a key factor in their fight for the winter guardian.

"North, how far is that town? Do you think Sandy will be back soon?" Tooth questioned the Guardian of wonder, who sat next to Bunny, still holding the tank, even though there was really no need for it. Again, he was simply fulfilling his constant need to feel useful.

"420 kilometers, 480 maybe?" North estimated off the top of his head. It was a very small town, and no doubt one of the furthest North. He prayed they had decent medical supplies and that Sandy would find what he was looking for quickly, and return with speed. Knowing his friend, there was no doubt he would be back soon.

"Lets hope he hurries," Bunny said without looking away from the pale boy. He did not dare take his full attention off Jack seeing as the last time he'd done that the teen had tried his darndest to suffocate to death. Bunny knew if they did not get proper supplies in time he would attempt this feat again. It was just a matter of how long they had.

Jack had closed his eyes again, but was still conscious, as his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration. It was torture knowing that there was nothing to alleviate his pain and discomfort. They had nothing until Sandy's arrival.

And so, the three waited for Sandy to return, all keeping firm eyes on Jack. Thankfully, though pathological, Jack's condition remained stable. It did not improve, but thank god, it did not worsen either.

Bunny sighed deeply, remembering he hadn't slept since yesterday if you didn't count his little accidental nap. He was exhausted but knew he would be getting no sleep until he knew Jack was well again. Or at least until he wasn't in danger of dying suddenly. The large rabbit busied himself with rubbing gentle circles on Jack's shoulder, hoping to provide some source of comfort. He wasn't sure if he was helping, but it was putting his own mind slightly at ease.

It was quite a surprise then, that moments later, Sandy burst back through the window, silently heaving with exertion as he had obviously been rushing to get back. He held what looked like a little gold brief case, made of his dream sand. Sandy trained his attention back onto the three guardians, who he was surprised to see sitting rather idle, though clearly on edge.

"Sandy, perfect timing," North said happily. Tooth, whose eyes were red, sniffled and replaced her melancholy expression with a smile. Sure they had been through a lot of hardship that day but maybe it was finally turing around.

Sandy floated over to the group and set the golden brief case on the ground. As soon as it opened, the golden sand melted away from the now revealed supplies and morphed back into Sandy's being.

If one had not seen the contents, they would have thought the guardians had just discovered a pile of treasure by the way they were looking at all the glorious up to date medical supplies.

"Well ain't that a sight for sore eyes," Bunny said, using his free hand to pick through what Sandy had managed to swipe. It wasn't without guilt that Sandy had taken the supplies, but he had promised himself to spend extra time giving dreams to the inhabitants of that town, anonymously thanking them for the medicines. Maybe he could even convince North to leave a few extra Christmas presents in exchange.

Sandy watched his fellow guardians admire the new shiny tools. He had taken multiple nebulizers (not being sure which one would help Jack) a few IV bags, an non mercury thermometer, and a whole assortment of pain medications. He was glad the others were happy with the turn out but they seemed a bit starstruck. They needed to get moving if they were going to help Jack.

In order to give his friends a slight reminder Sandy flashed a few images, gesturing to Jack, to the supplies, and back to Jack. How could he be more clear. He had gotten the meds to put them to use! Let's get a move on!

"Right Sandy, you got it mate. We gotta get to work!" Bunny and the others all snapped out of their zone.

It was Tooth who picked out the first medication. She was probably the one with the most pharmacology background, seeing as many dealings with tooth extraction procedures dealt with narcotics and other drugs. She handed the nebulizer specific for lung inflammation to Bunny, seeing as he had taken the designated role of 'nurse.'

Bunny reluctantly moved the mask away from Jack's face and again shook the inhaler to prepare the medicine inside. This time, because it was not so dire, he gently pressed the inhaler against Jack's lips and waited for the teen to respond.

Jack, who had been in and out of awareness for quite some time now, absentmindedly felt the presence of the plastic applicator waiting for his say at entrance. He was confused, which wasn't saying too much since most things at the moment confused him greatly. Little oxygen made brain function next to impossible, that was what Jack took for an excuse. Either way, Jack found the energy to crack his scrunched eyes open to see what was trying to invade his mouth.

He was surprised again by the contact made with brilliantly green eyes. For a moment he forgot why he had opened his eyes in the first place.

"I need you to put this in your mouth, yeah Frostbite?" Think you can do that?" Jack's lungs were still wildly difficult to inflate so he could not make a verbal response, but he found himself nodding briskly before parting his lips to make way for the small nebulizer.

"Alright when I push down on this I want ya to take a deep breath. It's gonna help ya breath. I promise this time,"

Tooth watched and was amazed at how well Bunny handled the winter child. He seemed to captivate the young guardian's attention and steal it from everyone in the room. Tooth doubted Jack was aware of anything other than Bunny at the moment.

Jack had nodded again. His breaths were still easily heard to contain immense wheezes but he seemed in control. He readied himself for the signal. As soon as the rabbit puffed the first round of medicine, Jack took the deepest inhale he possibly could have. In fact, it may have been a little too deep. Bunny had to pull the inhaler away from Jack as he coughed harshly.

Suddenly Jack realized he could breathe! Perhaps not to his full standards but each breath wasn't a battle. And with that realization he snatched the inhaler from Bunny's paw and shoved the little thing in his mouth, relishing the glorious effects of the medicine.

Bunny was completely caught off guard when Jack grabbed the nebulizer from him. Before he could do anything Jack was administering himself another dose and inhaling deeply. He looked like a drug addict who had finally managed to score his fix. It made Bunny happy that the medicine was working but he had to intervene before Jack OD'ed.

"Woah there, I'm afraid I have to take that back, Jack" Bunny had to yank the thing away from him, as Jack was preparing to push down the top a third time. It was rather pitiful at how easy it was to pry the nebulizer away. Jack was still very weak.

Bunny rolled his eyes at the winter child's expression. It was as if he had taken away a prized possession without justice. He did notice, however, that though Jack was gasping, his airways sounded clear. That was the most beautiful sound Bunny had heard all night.

"Jack! How do you feel? Are you better now?" Tooth, who could no longer stand by calmly, hovered over Jack. The winter guardian seemed surprised by her presence. She must have made the right assumption that he had only noticed Bunny in the past couple minutes. He recovered quickly from his surprise and actually let a smile cross his lips.

His hand rested over his chest tentatively. He took a deep breath, coughed a few times, took another and finally tried to speak. "Yeah!" He gasped out, his smile widening as he didn't break into a coughing fit.

Tooth mirrored his expression in delight. It had been awful seeing their newest member in such discomfort.

North had also moved into Jack's line of vision. He smiled in a jolly manner down at Jack. "Tis good to see you breathing easy, yes?" North boomed, truly happy for his recovery. Sandy also hovered above and excitedly flashed images over his head. He soon realized they were most likely too fast for Jack to understand though, so he decided to just beam a huge smile at their 'patient.'

"You guys saved me!" Jack rasped out, still clutching his chest. He wasn't going to go so far as to say his respiratory tract was completely healed but at least now could speak and, thank Manny, breathe!

"Yeah ya gave us all a fright ya did. Do ya have any idea how much trouble you've put us through? Owe us an apology I'd say." Bunny was, deep down, happy Jack was okay but he could feel his need for sleep overcoming him. When he needed sleep he was grumpy. Not someone to mess with thats for sure. Jack's excited demeanor was not combining well with his short nerves either.

It was a rather selfish thought but Bunny was annoyed that, with all the worry and work they all had just gone through, especially him, all Jack could do was sit there smiling.

"Bunny," Tooth said in a scolding tone. This only irked the rabbit more.

Jack's smile faltered as he watched the exchange and noticed how, well, pissed Bunny seemed. Wasn't he happy Jack was alive and well? Maybe not well, but at least alive! Jack wasn't too concerned with Bunny though at the moment, as he realized his condition. His body ached, and though he could breathe, which was probably the biggest relief in the world, he could still feel something was not right.

"Oh no" He let the two words slip past his lips as the world began to spin.

"Jack?" Tooth said in concern again as she noticed how pale Jack had just become. The last thing Jack noticed before passing out was how Bunny's face morphed from annoyance to complete concern.

The four guardians watched helplessly as Jack's eyes rolled back into his head and he slipped once more into unconsciousness.

Tooth gasped at the sudden happening while Sandy simply help the sides of his face in worry.

"Shit," Bunny swore. He grabbed the new thermometer Sandy had brought and jammed the thing under Jack's tongue, using his other hand to keep the winter boy's mouth closed around the probe. The thing beeped when it was ready and Bunny retracted the object to read it.

"Well that is actually not bad, then why.." Bunny was extremely confused. The thermometer read 56.7 degrees Fahrenheit, which was actually a pretty substantial drop back towards to normal. He had expected Jack's temperature to have spiked, causing the impromptu fainting spell, but he had been mistaken.

When in doubt, check all vitals. Bunny did just that. He reached for the stethoscope and blood pressure cuff which he promptly wrapped around the guardian of fun's slender arm. With shaking hands he popped the buds into his ears and pumped up the cuff. Holding his breath, he released the air, waiting to hear the tell tail beating sound of rushing blood. His stomach dropped when, by 90 mmHg, he still had not heard the rushing sound of pumping in tune with the heart.

Finally, at 76 mmHg, Bunny heard the systolic beat and noted the diastolic at 42. There was your problem. If Jack's normal was the sam human, he should have been near 120/80. He was far from that.

"His blood pressure is dropped off the charts," Bunny stated swiftly moving to check Jack's carotid pulse. It was dangerously rapid. His heart was pumping in over time to try and move the blood, since there was practically no pressure to help it out. Bunny mentally cringed at the fact that it wouldn't be until this new problem was solved that he may finally get some sleep.

* * *

_Well there you have it. Thanks to all the readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters! And for those in college...HAPPY SRPING BREAK Y'ALL! (or almost if it's not this week for other schools haha) _


	6. Chapter 6

Bunny had no clue what to do. It had been just too long since he had needed to think medically, and he was drawing a blank. This wasn't just treating symptoms anymore. They had to find the root of this problem or it was only going to get worse.

Tooth was still by Jack's side lightly shaking him and calling his name as if he was going to wake up. North had decided it would be a good idea to secure the oxygen mask over his face as well. Not a bad plan but that wasn't going to get his blood pressure up.

"We can't just stand around worryin. We gotta figure somethin out! How are we gonna get his blood pressure back up?" Bunny addressed everyone. If they wanted to fix this problem they were going to need to put their heads together.

"Perhaps it is reaction to medication?" North suggested, hovering just beside Tooth at Jack's shoulder. Bunny cringed at how pale Jack was. That was not natural in any way.

Bunny considered this idea, however. He grabbed the packaging of the nebulizer they had used and hastily scanned over the insert for side effects. It said nothing about low blood pressure.

"Naw mate, I don't think so. There ain't nothing in here about any ah this happenin" Bunny gestured to all of Jack's lifeless form. He wracked his brain, feeling hopeless. He wasn't sure if he had ever encountered a situation like this before. He either didn't know what to do, or the information was so deep within his mind that he was having trouble retrieving it.

"What causes low blood pressure?" Bunny asked himself.

Sandy was also at Jack's side, holding one of his limp hands. Sandy seemed to be in the same situation as the others. At a loss for what to do. All of the guardians had made it a point to learn a few first aid and assessment skills, as these things could save the life of a child. Unfortunately, it seemed as though they had become too comfortable with the lack of medical emergencies and were regretting their carelessness in a time of dire need.

Sandy trained all of his attention to the problem at hand. He asked himself repeatedly, what causes low blood pressure, and what fixes it? But continually he thought of nothing.

Perhaps they were looking at this from the wrong angle. There had to be something that had happened within the last 48 hours that had caused this drastic change in vitals. If only they reflected on that maybe they could figure all this out.

Sandy broke free from himself and urgently flew sand signals above his head. All the guardians who had been frantically throwing the same ideas back and forth but not making any ground, actually noticed him on his first try, which was impressive. It seemed they were desperate for any and all input at this point.

"Do ya got an idea Sandy? What do we need to do?" Sandy shook his head, silencing the frantic rabbit, who's ears and whiskers were twitching with stress. A question mark appeared above the golden man's head and he gestured to Jack. He then flashed a picture of a melting snowman followed by another question mark.

He stared determinedly at Bunny waiting to see if he understood. Bunny had said Jack had "Gone and practically melted 'imself." Sandy wondered what that meant. Maybe if they reviewed the history of the present illness they could find a cause, and a solution.

"Wha? You think Jack is still meltin? His temp is goin down, not up. That ain't it either." Bunny misinterpreted. Sandy rolled his eyes in frustration and shook his head vigorously. The next thing Sandy flashed was a picture of Jack, looking fine and healthy, followed by the sick Jack they were dealing with now. He again flashed a melting snowman and a question mark.

Bunny paused at this. His mind was going to fast to slow down and figure out what Sandy was trying to say.

"Oh! You want to know what happened to Jack to put him like this, is that right Sandy?" Tooth piped in. Sandy nodded with enthusiasm. He threw a picture of an hourglass above his head and denoted the sand slipping away quickly. They had to figure this out quickly if they wanted to help Jack in time. None of them knew how long it would take for Jack to go into cardiac arrest.

Tooth nodded at this, understanding their time crunch. "Well, Jack was doing fine all night, but he started looking really exhausted by the time we were finishing up with the presents. Just as we finished we started noticing something was off," Tooth started the story before Bunny jumped in to give his perspective.

"Righ' an then he started swayin like he was gonna pass out er somethin,"

"He kind of collapsed like he couldn't stand on his own, and then, he started to get really sick," Tooth trailed off as Bunny took over again, "He started puking like nothin I've ever seen before. An it was all water. Strangest thing,"

"That's when we realized he must have been reacting to the heat so we brought him outside where it was cold." Tooth was going to continue but Sandy cut her off with a few gestures. He had heard what he needed to. Jack had been ill, and vomiting. And all water? Something in his brain clicked and he wondered why they had not realized the issue sooner. Especially Tooth and Bunny. It was obvious!

Sandy looked down at the hand of the winter spirit which he had dropped in order to gesture towards the guardians. Taking the pale, slightly blue, hand into his, he pinched a small portion of Jack's skin between his fingers, making a small tent out of it. He then took his fingers away and watched what happened.

Instead of the usual elastic quality, the skin stayed in its tented position, barely and sluggishly flattening back to normal. Sandy did this again to Jack, just above his clavicle. Again, his skin turgor was abnormally slow.

The other guardians watched Sandy pinch Jack in various places and wondered what he was doing. "You, uh, figuring out what's wrong, Sandy?" Bunny asked very confused. He had no idea what this little 'test' Sandy was doing meant.

Sandy replied to this by nodding with enthusiasm and pointing to the couple of IV bags he had snatched form the hospital. He had indeed figured it out. Jack was severely dehydrated, his symptoms showed it clearly. Sandy imagined at this point Jack's blood had a consistency similar to tooth paste. His blood pressure was so low because of his decreased blood volume, also causing his heart to beat a mile a minute to compensate for the lack of fluid. All he needed was a little fluid put back into his body. Or a lot, either way.

"What do you mean Sandy?" North questioned not coming to the same epiphany Sandy had. Frustrated that the other guardians were not at this level yet, he took a deep breath to slow down and catch the others up.

Hastily, a few sloppy pictures of water appeared above his head and he made a few more gestures towards Jack. He needed fluid. End of story, easy fix.

"Hell, tha's gotta be it! You're a genius Sandy I could kiss ya," The rabbit was the first to make the connection, springing over to the liquid filled bags. He grabbed them and rushed to Jack's side.

Sandy watched, feeling quite relieved about the matter. He knew this would help Jack immensely and possibly get him back on his feet completely. As long as nothing new sprang up there was a good chance. It wasn't until a minute or so later that Sandy noticed Bunny's hesitation and lack of action.

Flashing a question mark above his head, the dream keeper wondered why Bunny had suddenly stopped.

"Uhh.." Bunny started he swallowed in a nervous way "I ain't never stuck a needle in any one.. ever" At this Bunny held up the bag in offering to the other three guardians in the room. He may have been playing nurse so far but it wasn't his designated job was it?

Sandy looked a little worried, realizing he too had never had a direct experience of doing this. North and Tooth also held up their hands in surrender with shaking heads. They were no more knowledgable in the matter than Bunny. Tooth watched Bunny's face morph into nerves and swooped forward to give him assurance.

"Bunny you can do it, you've been taking such good care of Jack this whole time. _None_ of us know how to do this exactly. I think if it's anyone it's got to be you," Tooth rested a hand on Bunny's shoulder.

"Aye, Bunny. Tooth speaks truth. You have been primary care taker as of now. You must continue," North said this genuinely but Bunny could tell he was just ensuring the fact that he wouldn't have to do it either.

In a final attempt to worm his way out of the job Bunny held the bag and tubing out to Sandy. The little golden man just shook his head and pointed at the rabbit, earning himself a groan. Sandy smiled compassionately then proceeded to point at Jack and formed another hour glass over his head.

"Alrigh, Alrigh! I'll do it but it ain't gonna be pretty," Bunny set his tools down and tried to ready himself as best as he could. He would have to rely on observed learning. He was pretty sure he had watched someone somewhere do this task. He grabbed a roll of medical tape, the tubing with the needle and finally one of the bags of normal saline fluid.

"Uh, don't I gotta wash my hands er somethin first?" Bunny said turning to the others, stalling. North, Tooth, and Sandy all shook their heads and urged him on. This had to be done, and quickly.

The scared rabbit skirted his eyes back to his task. His paw shakily grabbed the tubing closest to the end and uncapped the tiny needle, which sparkled in the light. Bunny gulped.

At this point, Tooth had fluttered over to hold the bag above Jack in preparation, so the solution would flow with gravity. North had prepared himself with a piece of tape to place over the tubing once the needle had been inserted while Sandy had positioned one of Jack's arms to expose his veins and reveal an entering site. The little golden man also had used an alcohol wipe to wash the vascular area of any infectious agents, probably the only sterile technique that would be utilized through the duration of Jack's medical emergency. However, Jack's body temperature was so low it was unlikely that many bacteria could thrive in his body environment anyway.

Bunny quivered slightly, but knew it had to be done. He took a deep breath and set his mind in stone. It had to be done. It was going to help Jack. It had to be done. Bunny repeated these phrases to himself over and over again as he watched his hand bring the needle slowly closer to the pale skin of Jack's arm.

He had noticed a vein that seemed big enough to accommodate the IV and positioned the needle in an angle above the blue line running up the boys arm. But there, he paused.

Bunny took a quick glance to Jack's face. The boy looked weak and unhealthy, the oxygen mask still covering his face. The whole scene was really very sad to Bunny. He decided he didn't like seeing Jack like this, especially when the boy was usually up and about, annoying the shit out of him. With that, Bunny made his resolve and plucked up the courage to jab the winter spirit.

The needle pierced through Jack's skin easily and into the vein. The moment this happened Tooth made sure the flow of the bag was working and North quickly placed a piece of tape over the IV to prevent it from falling out.

"Good job Bunny, that was perfect," Tooth soothed, noticing how Bunny was still staring down at the needle now inserted into Jack's arm, a blank expression on his face.

"Yes, you made it look easy," North chimed in patting one of his huge hands down on Bunny's shoulder.

"Yeah that wasn't...so bahd.." Bunny trailed off as his last words slurred together. Tooth gasped as Bunny keeled over in a dead faint. If fur hadn't been covering his face they would have seen it drained of blood in pure, squeamish pallor.

The three guardians just stared at the limp rabbit for a second or two, before North burst out in a huge barking laugh.

"North this isn't funny! Help me wake him up!" Sandy had found a coat rack to hang the IV bag on, allowing Tooth to hover forward to tend to the second unconscious guardian in the room.

"Bunny, can you hear me?" Tooth said in a sing song voice while gently slapping his face.

"Ah ha!" North continued to laugh, "He is squeamish little girl, no?" Tooth glared at North who shrank under her gaze. With Tooth still staring him down the big Russian pulled himself to the rabbit's side and made his effort to wake the Easter guardian.

"Okay Bunny, you wake up now, there are no more needles," North shook Bunny harshly but the rabbit remained in his state. Tooth groaned, feeling over whelmed with one injured guardian to worry over, let alone two! But she was sure Bunny would be fine if they just gave him a little bit of time to come around.

Sandy rolled his eyes and motioned to the other two guardians and pointed at Jack. He was the one they really needed to be worrying about. "Oh right," Tooth awkwardly shifted Bunny out of the way with great effort so the couch side was clear, giving space to care for Jack.

Tooth looked up to see a heart monitor pulsing above Sandy's head and a question mark after it. Tooth supposed, now that Bunny had been compromised, the nursing privileges were passed onto her.

Picking up the blood pressure cuff that had been splayed on the floor in reach of the couch, Tooth wrapped the thing around Jack's limp arm. The boys face remained slack and un changing as she jostled him lightly. She watched for any signs of his awakening, however she didn't expect that to come for a while.

She Clumsily fumbled with the cords and tubes hooking to the cuff and stuffed the stethoscope just under the cuff over the brachial artery. She hadn't taken a blood pressure in probably close to 200 years.

Sandy and North watched for the results as Tooth pumped the cuff up and then let the air out slowly. Given it had been only about five minutes since they had inserted the IV, a huge change was not expected, but a small one would have been nice.

North looked at Tooth in apprehension. "Well, what is it. Did we help Jack?"

Tooth allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "I think so. His blood pressure is 82/48 now," Tooth returned her gaze to Jack's mostly peaceful face. He could have been mistaken for a child who had fallen asleep on the couch just before bedtime. The oxygen mask still blocked half of his face from clear view, but as far as she could tell, every muscle had relaxed. "I think we just need to let him rest and recover now,"

Both North and Sandy sighed in relief. Perhaps they were finally out of the hole.

* * *

_This is most likely the last chapter I upload for the spring vacation..I got a road trip to Daytona so definitely won't be available during that time! :D ahh I'm so excited for it! _

_This story is winding down but I expect there will be at least 2 more chapters left :) thanks for reading!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Tooth sighed happily as she once again got a reading of Jack's vitals, finding, to her great relief, that they were continually curving back towards normal. Or Jack's normal, that is to say.

The IV Bunny had inserted earlier was still hung and providing fluid to Jack's body. It had done wonders for bringing his blood pressure back up. Tooth had found the last reading to be 110/64, which was plausibly Jack's usual. It was hard to say what was healthy for the boy, seeing as they had no control numbers, but one could say that 110/64 fell within the normal range.

Jack's temperature was also something that was constantly making progress in the right direction. He was now running a temperature of only 52 degrees F, which may still have been a low grade fever for the boy, but was much closer to his normal forty degree temperature.

Tooth watched the winter guardian as he slept peacefully. His facial muscles were fully slackened and relaxed, giving his face an angelic look.

It was nearly 5 in the afternoon at that point, Tooth noticed. Christmas day was almost over. Looking back to Jack, Tooth couldn't help but let her expression soften as she realized that despite practically missing the holiday, every one of them would have done it again to save Jack. Just to be with him in fact. They could celebrate a late Christmas tomorrow or even next year, but Jack was priceless.

Tooth knew Jack had brought them all closer as a family and now, nothing could take that away from them.

Without noticing, the fairy had absentmindedly woven her fingers into Jack's wispy white hair. She stroked his head in a loving manner while humming gently. Her eye lids were beginning to droop, however, and it was becoming harder to resist the powerful allure of sleep.

Bunny had never woken up after fainting, merely switching seamlessly from unconsciousness into a deep restful sleep. The fairy did not blame him one bit, seeing as he had gone almost entirely without sleep for nearly two days.

North had soon followed Bunny's track and also laid down for a nap with Sandy not long after him. The three were actually piled up together in a rather cute way. Looking at the pile of sleeping guardians, Tooth could no longer resist.

She pulled her fingers gently from the tangle of white hair and scooted herself over to where her friends slept, joining their pile gratefully.

If anything happened to Jack she knew they were all close enough to help, so she did not feel guilt over joining the rest in slumber land.

* * *

Jack woke slowly, and blinked blearily to clear his foggy vision. It seemed as though he had been asleep for ages. His surroundings confused him as he stared up into what was clearly North's workshop. It took a minute for the memories to come back to him but slowly, he realized what exactly had put him in this situation. He remembered the pain and panic he had felt as his lungs had refused to work, and the relief when Bunny had given him that strange medicine. He also hazily remembered losing consciousness again for some unknown reason.

With his mind still slightly reeling, Jack stopped thinking for a moment to try and gauge his environment. The workshop was close to silent and there was no movement that Jack could pick up on. The sun that shone through the window between the clouds suggested it was very late evening, nearly twilight.

Jack closed his eyes and sighed, realizing he must have slept through the entire day. The others must have gone elsewhere to rest as there was no indication of their presence in the room.

Feeling the sudden urge to get off the coach Jack lifted a hand to his eyes which he rubbed harshly, trying to massage the headache that had formed just behind them. He sighed, feeling frustration that he had wasted a whole day of fun by sleeping, probably the most boring alternative.

One by one he flexed the muscles in his limbs to see if they were still working before he tried anything rash. All seemed to be in order, a bit achy but surely in order. He still felt weak but also felt as though he had been lying for much too long, and being a restless winter spirit, he had the urge to move.

He groaned lightly as he found the strength to grasp the top of the couch and lever himself into a sitting position. So far so good. He still felt like crap and the world still insisted on spinning, but overall, he had to say he was feeling about one hundred and ten times better than he had earlier. Even better, he found he had regained enough strength to keep himself upright. He chuckled lightly to himself at this and moved to swing his legs over the side of the couch but stopped when he felt a small persistent tugging on his right arm.

Jack hesitated in his motion to investigate, finding a small clear tube tapped onto his forearm. He followed the tube with his eyes until it reached the top of a wooden coat hanger where a plastic bag only a quarter full of liquid hung. Jack furrowed his eye brows at this in confusion as to what this thing was doing taped to his arm. He brought his focus back to where the thing was attached and gulped in surprise. Not only was the tube tapped, but it was actually in him. The little silver rode in conjunction with the tubing was poking right into his skin, who knows how deep.

Jack couldn't say he had never seen a needle before. He knew about how doctors used needles and syringes to administer shots and how kids hated them. He had gotten an earful of Sophie and Jamie's rants and horror stories about their doctor visits. Come to think of it, he could even recall seeing a few of these strange bags hooked up to humans before, but had never realized their invasive nature.

Being a spirit of nature, the skies, and the weather, it wasn't often that Jack hung around hospitals. He usually had no need for medicine either, so naturally Jack's knowledge of modern health practice was close to nothing. When he had grown up in his human life, medicine included mixed herbs, a few bandages, and prayers. Doctors were few in his time and one usually just hoped to stay healthy if they wanted to continue living.

Either way, all Jack knew was that medical stuff had nothing to do with him. Especially sharp poky needles.

It wasn't surprising then, that Jack knew close to nothing of the purpose of the needle. All he knew was that he wanted it out. Hastily and in no manner of skill, Jack grabbed the tubing closest to his arm and tugged the thing unceremoniously from his skin. He hissed as the tape and needle both yanked away painfully. A few drops of blood formed where the needle had been pulled roughly, but Jack simply wiped the blood away and dropped the tubing to the floor, giving it an accusing glance as he rubbed his sore arm.

With that taken care of, Jack continued on his way, swinging his legs off the couch. He rested his bare feet on the floor, toes wiggling to feel the sensation of the smooth wooden planks beneath them. His vision blackened dangerously with the movement but he simply blinked until the room came back to clarity.

That was when he noticed that he was not alone at all. Jack looked down at the floor in front of him to see his fellow guardians fast asleep. Not only were they out cold, but they all seemed to have made pillows of each other, and were cuddling in the most adorable, but embarrassing, way.

Bunny seemed to be the base of the cuddle fest, Tooth's head and face nuzzled up to the fur on his belly which caused her to rise and fall with each of his breaths. North was also using the rabbit as a pillow, resting with his arm draped over the Easter guardian's legs and head lolling contentedly to the side. Sandy had simply sprawled himself on North's massive chest, the man large enough to be his own personal bed.

Jack gaped for a minute at the scene and bit his finger to stifle a laugh. How he wished he had a camera!

The guardian of fun laughed quietly to himself as he watched his fellow protectors sleeping innocently. He knew Bunny would be furious if he knew Jack was seeing him like this.

Getting over his amusement, Jack once again focused on himself and his strength. He didn't want to wake the guardians for help knowing that they had done so much for him already. He hoped it would be easy to be as quiet as possible while completing his next goal of getting back on his feet.

While mentally preparing for the plunge, Jack also noticed, not so absentmindedly, that he was thirsty. It wasn't a normal type of thirst either, but more what felt like an intense physiological need he had neglected for days. He noticed his lips were chapped and dry and when he brought his hand up to them he pulled back with bloody fingers. His lip must have split while he was smiling, he was so dried out.

Jack licked the blood away with his tongue which also felt impossibly dry and lacking of fluid. With his heart and mind set on a tall glass of ice water, or perhaps a gallon or two, Jack made his resolve to make his way to a water source. He imagined the closest place would be the kitchen, located just a floor below the globe room.

Jack shook his head lightly, checking for dizziness. When he still felt sober even after this little test he used the arm of the couch to help straighten his legs and push his body into a standing position.

Jack teetered slightly and stretched his arms out for balance but found himself remaining on his feet. Jack smiled largely at this and again laughed quietly but triumphantly.

Feeling bold, he took a step forward, and feeling pretty good, took another one after that! But very soon he realized that was his downfall, literally. With a combination of sudden lightheadedness and the audacity of his legs to buckle under him, he felt himself losing balance. Frantically and with flailing arms, he groped the air for anything to stop his fall. His hand made contact with the only thing in reach and found himself gripping the coat hanger the small bag was still attached to. Unfortunately, the angle of Jack's fall and unsteadiness of the wooden rod did nothing much to keep Jack upright.

"Ahh!" Jack couldn't help but vocalized his fall as both he and the coat rack descended in unison.

It was just Jack's luck that he found the absolute noisiest place to fall too. So much for not waking the guardians up. The winter spirit came crashing down right on top of a pile of tin buckets that had been situated not far from the couch. The clatter nearly shook the entire workshop.

It was not a surprise that all four guardians startled awake with the racket. Jack groaned loudly. A few of the bucket rims cut into his ribs and legs painfully as the floor finally broke his fall. A couple of the buckets rolled gently back and forth as they had been flipped on their side. Jack did not make any attempts to move after that, simply laying still trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him.

"Oy! wha tha?!" Bunny jack knifed into a sitting position, easily displacing both Tooth and North. The large guardian of wonder also started, accidentally tossing Sandy off of his great belly. Sandy jerked awake just in time to float gracefully into an upright position before he hit the floor while Tooth was already fluttering a few feet off the ground, albeit a bit sleepily.

For a few seconds of disorientation all four guardians looked around, a bit confused as to what had woken them.

It wasn't until Jack let out another weak groan that Bunny noticed a pair of pale feet sticking out from under the pile of buckets that had somehow been knocked around like bowling pins. And Jack must have been the bowling ball, Bunny realized.

"Crieky Frostbite!" Bunny jumped into action, literally hopping over North and Sandy who were still a little bit dazed by leftover remnants of sleep. Noisily tossing a few buckets out of the way, Bunny unburied a very bruised looking Jack.

"Morning" Jack stated when Bunny's worried face came into view. He was still lying flat on his back in the position gravity had decided to place him. He ached and didn't yet trust moving. Plus the whole situation was a bit embarrassing for Jack. He had been downright clumsy in waking the others.

"Jack what happened! Are you okay?" Tooth had come to his side, sweeping a few of the buckets further to make room to plop down just on Jack's opposite side. Sandy followed Tooth up by flashing his concerns in a few pictures. North was the last to make it over, coming to a rest at Jack's feet.

The large Russian grabbed one of Jack's bare extremities and shook it gently. "Up and about I see," It was very apparent that Jack had attempted to leave the coach by himself but had failed miserably.

North smiled at Jack who had to lift his head off the ground to see the larger man. There was still a flash of concern in his eyes but Jack appreciated his attempts to lighten the mood. He certainly was ready for everyone to stop worrying about him.

Plucking up his courage to move, Jack stuck a hand into the air. "Help me up," He said. Bunny took hold of Jack's offered hand and helped support his shoulder as the boy bent into a more upright position. He groaned at the effort, finding new aches the buckets had caused.

"What were ya thinkin Frosty, ya coulda hurt yaself. Hell, ya did hurt yaself!" Bunny gestured to a few bruises that were already beginning to form on his exposed arms.

He didn't mean to, but Jack couldn't help but smile and let out a little laugh. Since when was Bunny a concerned parent? Last he checked they barely liked each other! Jack could see he was making Bunny furious by his light hearted reaction to what the rabbit viewed as a very serious situation, but he couldn't help it.

"Sorry Bunny it's just, I didn't expect you to care so much," Now that the smile had formed on Jack's face it was going to be hard to get it off. Sandy, North and Tooth all turned to Bunny with smirks as Jack called the Easter guardian out.

Noticing the others looks, Bunny let his anger fade away only to be replaced by embarrassment. "Well..uh. Ya know.. I spent all that time fixin ya up, and get no appreciation! Then you hav ta go and ruin it by bein' stupid an not thinkin about the consequences" Bunny thought his excuse was a pretty good one.

"And you wouldn't have fixed me up if you didn't care," Jack smiled while North had begun laughing at the expression on Bunny's face. North hadn't realized how blatant Jack could be.

"Ah pop a cork in it Frosty," Bunny gave up the fight and simply used his paw to give Jack the lightest of friendly pushes. Just because Jack was a bit jostled didn't mean he couldn't still roughhouse.

Jack laughed at this and smiled, realizing Bunny had given in and was admitting without words that he had no reason for his worry, other than that he now cared for Jack. And that was what it was like to have a family.

* * *

_It was a Snow day for me at my University! WEEE! haha..thanks Jack! So I had time to post a chapter! There are just a few more chapters left for this here story! I will be sad when it's over._

_Reviews inspire mee! They really do and I love them all! I thank everyone who takes the time to leave one! Thank you also to readers, favoriters, and followers! :)_


	8. Chapter 8

Everyone was relieved that Jack had awoken and was even well enough to get up on his own. He wasn't very successful at it, but the fact that he had tried was definitely something.

"Oh Jack I'm so glad you're feeling better! We were so worried," Tooth couldn't stand it any more. Unable to hold back another minute, the colorful fairy wrapped herself around Jack in a tight embrace.

Jack was a little surprised by the sudden contact and paused for a movement before returning the hug enthusiastically. He smiled and peeked over Tooth's shoulder to see his fellow guardians displaying fond looks as well, even Bunny.

"Alrigh', thats enough you two," Bunny gently pried Tooth from Jack who nearly fell over after the loss of support. Bunny was right there to keep him off his back though. Tooth blushed deeply and skirted away, still smiling. Jack laughed happily looking around to his companions. He suddenly realized it was Christmas, and again that he was not alone for it. This only made his smile widen.

"Hey guys, Merry Christmas!" Jack suppressed his feelings of guilt at causing everyone worry on the holiday just to enjoy the fact that they were all together. North boomed out a laugh and would have clapped the boy on the back hardily had he not been in such a weakened state. The Guardian of wonder settled for sweeping Jack into his arms bridal style and laughing merrily.

"Merry Christmas!" North repeated loudly, addressing the entire workshop, though it was still pretty void of life after the hard nights work.

Bunny hovered like a nervous mother around North who was swinging around a laughing Jack. Obviously he was still worried about any more damage coming to their winter spirit. Sandy rolled his eyes at the rabbit's blatant concern but smiled none the less. Bunny seemed to be treating Jack like one of his precious Easter eggs.

Jack, for once, didn't seem to be bothered by the attention. He was a little surprised and not quite used to it, but he had grown accustomed to North's sometimes overbearing actions. One learned to live with it and just enjoy the sudden outbursts.

"Okay, North. Put 'im down. He could still take a turn for the worst," North and Jack stopped to exchange looks. The big man burst into laughter at Bunny's worry but complied and placed Jack on the couch. The winter boy was still chuckling and grinning madly.

"Bunny, ease up a bit. It's Christmas!" Jack said happily. Unfortunately his point fell a little short when he broke into a fit of coughing.

"Yeah, I'll ease up alrigh', see wha good that'll do ya" Bunny gently patted Jack on the back until he had calmed a bit and was able take a few breaths without being riddled with short dry coughs.

"Oh Jack, your lip is bleeding," Tooth pointed out. She fluttered over to the medical supplies and found a tissue for Jack to mop up with. "Here," Tooth handed Jack the swab.

"Hm, yer lips are chapped, I think he's still dehydrated," Bunny stated. Sandy, who had been hovering close by, grabbed Jack's free hand that wasn't holding the tissue to his face and pinched the skin between his fingers. Jack resisted the urge to tug his hand away, having no clue what Sandy was doing. However, Jack let his arm be manipulated and settled for furrowing his eyebrows in question.

The golden man watched as the skin returned to it's position, a little too slowly. Flashing a few signs above his head, Sandy nodded, confirming that Jack was still in need of fluids before he would be back to normal.

"Alrigh' let's get you taken care of," Bunny straightened up and made his way over to the medical supply kit, rummaging to find another IV bag. It had not gone unnoticed, to Bunny at least, that the needle and tubing had been removed from Jack's pale arm.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing with that?" Jack asked as Bunny returned to his side with the new IV system. The sharp needle glinted menacingly in the light.

"Well sumbody went and ripped their old IV out, so I have to put a new one in," Bunny said, all the while glaring at Jack who he knew had been the perpetrator of such an act. Bunny hung the new bag on the wooden coat hanger he had righted and began fiddling with the end.

"Bunny, try not to faint again," North commented snidely, not even trying to hide his snickering. The thought of the big tough Australian Easter Bunny actually fainting was enough to put everyone over the edge. Sandy cracked into silent giggles and Tooth tried desperately to cover her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

Bunny froze at North's comment, a mix of anger and embarrassment over coming him. "Why don't you shut it ya bloody wombats. I'd like to see you put a needle in after two days withou' sleep!"

"Wait, am I hearing this right? Cotton tail over here fainted?" Jack asked a cheeky smile spreading across his face.

"Like a little girl!" North added in before Bunny could say anything different. Jack couldn't help himself and let out a raspy bark of laughter.

Finally taking pitty on the oversized rabbit, Tooth calmed her uncontrolled fit and took a few deep breaths. "Guys, I think we owe it to Bunny. He's been taking really good care of Jack. We shouldn't fault him for being a little squeamish,"

"I ain't squeamish. I was just tired,"

"Oh Bunny. Excuses are not your strong suit." North said while wiping a few tears from his eyes, finally able to speak without laughing.

"Can you say 'black mail'?" Jack whispered to Sandy who had floated just next to Jack. The little man shook with more silent laughter.

"Eh, I heard that snowball," Bunny said, shaking a fist at Jack, the tubing in his hand swaying back and forth with the motion. The needle flashed in the light again, catching Jack's attention once more. Bunny saw the glint of fear in the winter guardians face at the sight of the needle and immediately jumped on the opportunity.

"Tha's right, Frost, you're gonna get stuck with this. Then we'll see who's laughing." Bunny approached Jack who backed as far as he could into the couch.

"Hang on a minute! I am better now! I don't need that," Jack pleaded hands up in some sort of surrender.

"Sorry Jack, you're still dehydrated and this will fix it," Bunny said prepping the needle.

"Can't I just have a glass of water?" Jack suggested, remembering how thirsty he was all of a sudden. He clutched his throat, realizing how much it felt like sandpaper.

With that, Bunny paused and considered. He actually felt kind of stupid for not thinking of that solution himself. The only problem he had with not using the IV would be his lost opportunity for revenge. Then again, he had fainted upon his first encounter with the needle so possibly it would be better to avoid a second.

"Please, Bunny, I really am feeling better. Just really thirsty." Jack pleaded. He was trying to be civil now but if Bunny really did approach him with the needle, he was giving himself silent permission to do whatever it took to avoid the situation.

"Fine, you win. But don't think this means you're off the hook," Bunny said. He took the bag down in a disgruntled manner, bringing the tubing back to the kit of supplies.

"Oh I'll go get you some water Jack! I'll be right back," Tooth said before zipping out of the room.

Jack sighed in relief but was rudely assaulted by the electric thermometer being shoved into his mouth. He meant to say some sort of protest but could not get a word past the little probe that Bunny held in place. Jack couldn't do much but sit in submission until the instrument beeped.

"47.2. You've still got a fever," Bunny said while grabbing the blood pressure cuff and roughly jostling Jack's arm into the velcro strapping.

"Ow! Take it easy!" Jack said indignantly while Bunny manipulated his arm with no sympathy to which way it wasn't supposed to bend.

"I'll take it easy when I'm sure you're not going to be face down on the floor. I've been keeping you alive all day and I'm not going to stop just because you're claimin to be better," Bunny said this while pumping up the cuff. He filled it a few pumps more than necessary just to make his point. Jack grit his teeth as his arm was squeezed too tightly but didn't say anything against it.

"Now quite," Bunny said popping the buds of the stethoscope in his ears and listening to the brachial artery as the air from the cuff was released.

North and Sandy exchanged slightly frightened looks as they knew Bunny was in a pretty horrible mood. Neither of them wanted to step into the middle of things but it was clear Bunny was not suited to be the most caring 'nurse' at the moment. In fact, North and Sandy were frightened for Jack's physical well being after seeing Bunny manhandle the boy.

Sandy and North both knew they had to say something and silently squabbled over who would be the one to speak up. Sandy flashed golden images over his head messily while North gestured and mouthed protests, neither wanting to be the one to intervene. Bunny was none the wiser, back turned and focussed on getting the reading, but Jack looked at the two elder guardians' silent debate with a quizzical expression.

Needless to say, Sandy won the battle and North unwillingly prepared to confront their on edge rabbit.

As soon as Bunny removed the plugs from his ears North cleared his throat and prepared to speak.

"Bunny, Sandy and I think it is best if you take a break." Sandy looked slightly disgruntled, feeling thrown under the bus at being dragged into it. North nudged the golden man and he did reluctantly nod in agreement. "You are very tired, and have been under lot of stress. Why don't you go up to one of the spare bedrooms and we will take care of Jack,"

Jack now knew what the two had been arguing over and found himself agreeing with their idea very much. As evidenced by his current mood, the rabbit clearly was tired, over worked, and horrendously grumpy.

"Yeah Bunny, you should go. I'm fine now, and I think Tooth is-" Jack was cut off by Bunny, who was clearly very irritated by the suggestion.

"Quiet, Frost," Bunny silenced Jack's side comment. "I'm the one who has been taking care of Jack and I know what to look for if things go kid is still running a temperature, and his blood pressure is too low. I ain't leaving." Bunny said in finality.

Jack was half split between feeling indignant at being called a kid and feeling confused but happy knowing Bunny cared so much for Jack's well being that he would put himself under physical stress to make sure it stayed intact.

"Bunny, I think you should reconsider," North started firmly.

"I told ya, North. I ain't leavin." Bunny glared at his accuser.

"Sorry that took so long! The kitchen was a complete wreck! The elves had used all the glasses and dishes to make a..." Tooth trailed off awkwardly as she realized the tense scene she had just stumbled upon. She paused momentarily, looking between Bunny and North who had taken stances similar to persons participating in a shoot out.

"Hey, Tooth, don't worry about it, you weren't gone that long," Jack said, rather loudly, hoping to draw attention away from the current disagreement. Tooth still hovered at the edge of the scene, eying the stand off.

Noticing Tooth's hesitancy, Jack made eye contact and used an expression he could only hope said 'act normal and _get over here_!'

He figured Tooth picked up on his message at least a little because she recovered from her shock and fluttered over, laughing nervously. "Yeah those elves are something else,"

Bunny and North stayed as they were but Sandy backed away from the two, hoping to remove himself from the argument. He drifted over to Tooth and Jack, nodding in agreement that yes, those elves were something.

North looked at the golden man angrily, knowing he had lost his back up partner. He had been abandoned! The large man sighed, sure he had lost because Bunny was much to stubborn to convince on his own.

North sighed in defeat. Bunny knew he had won and the discussion would be dropped.

Jack coughed dryly, not really because he had to, but because he wanted to draw attention away from the current situation. It was true that each guardian had a very prominent personality and sometimes they clashed, but it was important to never let a disagreement stall cooperation for too long.

Unfortunately, what had been a fake cough, meant for distraction purposes only, caused a fit that Jack greatly regretted to have triggered. That certainly did the job of pulling everyone back to reality.

It was sort of amusing at how fast Bunny changed from angry and on edge to comforting and concerned. The rabbit turned right around from where he had been standing during his face off and plopped down on the couch next to Jack, patting his back. It seemed he was taking this position a lot today.

"Tooth, you wanna pour that glass of water?" Bunny asked. It seemed he had mellowed a bit after seeing Jack succumb to weakness once more.

The tooth fairy nodded and took the pitcher of water from the floor to pour it into the glass she had brought up from the kitchens. She then handed the glass to Jack who took it with shaking hands as he was still coughing rather uncontrollably. Bunny wrapped one of his large paws around the glass as well so it would not drop. The large rabbit then helped guide the glass to Jack's lips.

Jack, barely finding a spare moment in between each cough, finally took a sip of the water. The cool liquid soothed his dry scratchy throat almost instantly. He could feel the urge to cough still present but he ignored it, feeling the tickle dissipate as the water went down. He then remembered just how thirsty he was.

"Not so fast, Jack," Bunny said as Jack took control of the glass and tipped it back, dumping practically all of the water down his throat at once. He gulped audibly, his throat working to swallow all that he could as fast as he could.

Within a matter of seconds Jack had downed the entire glass. He pulled the cup away from his mouth breathing heavily. The other guardians stared at Jack, a little astonished at just how fast he had drank the liquid.

"Can I have more?" The winter boy had an almost crazed look in his eyes. He held the glass out to Tooth who was in current possession of the water pitcher. "Please?" Jack added at the end. If she didn't pour him more he was ready to seize the pitcher and drink straight from there.

Tooth looked at Bunny who seemed a little worried about the situation. He didn't want Jack drinking too much and getting sick, but it was a good thing he was getting hydrated. Bunny, acting as medical advisor, nodded and gave Tooth the okay to give him a refill.

Jack waited as patiently as he could while Tooth took his cup and poured more water. As soon as she finished Jack reached for the glass abruptly. His attempt, however, was cut off by Bunny, who took hold of the glass and held it out of reach.

"Slowly with this one, you got me?" Jack nodded furiously and could have cried in joy when the cool cup was placed into his palms. Just like the last, he tossed his head back and probably only took three huge gulps before the entire thing was empty. This earned him a few scolding statements from Bunny for not heeding his words about going slow, but Jack did not mind. He was finally starting to feel like himself again. He was still weak but the persistent aching headache that had been present ever since he awoke seemed to finally be starting to subside.

"One more," Jack said, handing the empty glass to Tooth for his third refill.

"I don't know Jack, you've had quite a bit already. Maybe you should wait a few minutes before I pour you another?" Tooth said, looking to Bunny who seemed to nod minutely in agreement of her reasoning.

"Please, I'm so thirsty," Jack said not sure if he even had enough strength to wrestle the pitcher away from any of the guardians at the moment.

"Just give him some more. He will be fine," North said, smiling to Jack who looked at him with pure thankfulness.

"You gonna listen to me this time when I say slow?" Bunny said as Tooth handed him the refilled glass. Jack nodded sincerely, feeling he had enough control over his thirst.

This time when Bunny gave Jack the glass he swallowed slowly and deliberately, relishing the feeling of the water washing down his throat and filling his stomach. He still finished the cup in one go but it had bee much less frantic.

"Alright, yer done," Bunny said, confiscating the glass. It looked as though Jack was going to ask for another but Bunny didn't even give him the option. Jack's shoulders sagged in slight disappointment, but also in sheer exhaustion. Even though he had been asleep, or rather unconscious, for much of the day he still felt abnormally tired.

"Jack you are tired, you should get some sleep," North said as he noticed Jack's eyes become heavily lidded.

"What? No. It's Christmas and we should celebrate," Jack said, trying his best to look alert and oriented, though he was beginning to feel neither.

North laughed at Jack's persistent enthusiasm. "There will be time to celebrate tomorrow," Sandy floated up next to North and nodded, giving a huge grin and two thumbs up.

"But, guys," Jack began, sitting a little further upright and scooting to the edge of the couch to prove he was fine.

"Jack, you've been through a lot today. I think you owe it to yourself to get a little rest and recover," Tooth smiled sweetly, fluttering next to Jack and placing a caring hand on his shoulder.

"Owe it to 'imself? He owes it to me," Bunny said indignantly, pointing to himself, the one that had done the burnt of the work in keeping the winter spirit alive.

North and Sandy exchanged looks, still realizing the rabbit was way too grumpy and over tired for his own good.

"Bunny, you may not like it, but Sandy and I can bring you to bed by force," North said, folding his intimidatingly tattooed arms and raising his eyebrows. To make their point more clear, Sandy formed a ball of golden sand. He tossed the glowing orb back and forth between his hands threateningly.

Bunny scowled at the two, "Alrigh'! I'll go in a minute," Bunny compromised in order to prevent Sandy from tossing the sleep sand his way. Sandy nodded happily and the little ball of sand disappeared with a poof.

"See Jack, you don't have to feel bad about getting some shut eye. We're all going to go to bed," Tooth said, still at Jack's side. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

Jack tried to stifle a yawn and leaned back into the couch. "Well if you say so,"

"And when I say, we are all going to bed, I mean we are all going to bed," Tooth said sternly, like a mother. She looked to North and Sandy especially, who seemed to think themselves exempt from the conversation.

"Jack would you like to go up to one of the guest rooms for the night? A bed might be more comfortable," North considered, trying his best to be a good host. Jack however, was already half asleep and could barely comprehend the question.

"Huh, oh no I think I'll be fine here. Thanks though," Jack said.

North nodded, Sandy yawned, and Tooth fluttered from Jack's side and began to usher her fellow guardians up the stairs. "Come on Bunny," Tooth said. The rabbit had not moved from the couch where he sat by Jack.

"I think I'm gonna get one more set a vital signs and then I'll go," Tooth glared at Bunny skeptically. "Bunny," She began to protest but was cut off.

"Tooth I'll be up. Trust me. I'm exhausted," Bunny admitted. This was the only way he could reassure Tooth he really would be heading up to sleep himself, even without her witnessing it.

"Okay," Tooth said, finally turning her back and following North and Sandy towards the upper floors. She understood that Bunny probably needed the time to reassure himself that Jack was okay. She didn't blame him either. She could tell he had really been affected when there was a possibility of losing their newest and youngest member.

"Good night," North said, Sandy nodded in agreement.

"Night," Jack slurred out in response to the retreating forms of the other guardians.

"Okay, Frostbite, let's take a listen to those lungs," Bunny said prepping the stethoscope.

"Ugh Bunny, I'm fine now," Jack said but Bunny took no notice. He put his paw behind Jack's back and pushed him forward so he was no longer leaning against the couch. He then proceeded to slide the stethoscope under Jack's plain white tee and place it against the pale skin near his shoulder blades.

"Breath deep," Bunny ordered. Jack saw no point in protesting and was too tired to put up a fight, so he did what Bunny asked. The deep breathing actually felt good to him, like he was making up for all that time he went with so little oxygen. It also seemed to be putting him to sleep. But then again he didn't need much help with that.

Bunny moved his stethoscope laterally, starting high and working low. He listened to all of Jack's lung fields intently. They were not 100 percent clear but he was sure that would go away in a couple of days. Also, it didn't seem to be bothering the teen too much.

"Do I pass?" Jack asked when Bunny pulled away and pushed him back into the coach again.

"I'll give ya a B-," Bunny said seriously. Jack laughed at this, though it did not have it's usual spark because he was so lifeless from exhaustion.

Jack sort of faded in and out as Bunny finished up. He registered having his blood pressure taken, though thankfully the rabbit did not pump the cuff up as tightly this time. He vaguely realized Bunny had asked him to open his mouth so he could put the thermometer under his tongue as well. To say the least he was surprised he had stayed upright for the entire exam.

As Jack was being pulled deeper into sleep, he realized he still had something he wanted to tell the guardian of hope. Surely he could not sleep until he had addressed the topic.

It was a struggle, but Jack worked up enough energy to focus on the rabbit who was currently getting ready to count his radial pulse.

"Kangaroo," Jack started his head lolling back into the couch.

"Hey, I ain't a Kangaroo, ya overgrown ice chip,"

Jack chuckled. His eyes were dipping shut with each passing moment. "Sorry, sorry, _Bunny,_" Jack corrected himself.

Bunny's whiskers twitched with the hint of a smirk. "What?" The large rabbit asked the barely awake teen. He was still keeping track of each thumping pulse in Jack's wrist, not taking his eyes off the second hand of the clock.

"I just wanted to thank you," Jack said softly. Bunny completely lost track of Jack's pulse. He was a bit caught off guard by the simple but sincere act of gratitude. Bunny tried to recover hastily.

"Thank me for what?" Bunny sighed when Jack remained silent. He looked down at his feet, not daring to make eye contact with the winter guardian. "Truth is, Jack, I think you've grown on us...on me," Bunny added, "And I think we, includin myself, would be pretty upset if you weren't around anymore. We would miss ya more than ya think," Bunny finished, feeling the telltale flush of embarrassment bloom under the fur on his face. It wasn't often that he made gushy speeches full of feelings and emotions. Though the words were short, they had been meaningful coming from the usually stoic rabbit.

The winter spirit remained strangely silent, so Bunny had no choice but to lift his head and face the younger guardian.

"Hey! What the-" Bunny said angrily as he looked at Jack, who was completely fast asleep. He was still sitting upright, though slightly slouched to the side with his head tilted back on the couch. His breaths were slow and even. He clearly hadn't heard any of Bunny's confession. "Why you bloody, no good.." Bunny trailed off, finding himself too tired to be mad. He rubbed his eyes with his paws and groaned. It had been too long of a day. He could feel the allure of sleep drawing him in. This time he was not so apt to fight it.

The large rabbit thought of getting up and making his way to one of the spare bedrooms littered across the upper floors of the workshop but the thought of moving did not sound appealing. Bunny groaned again and flopped back to lean against the couch, letting his eyes fall shut. Unfortunately, his graceless slump had displaced the cushions just enough to cause Jack's rather uncomfortable looking position to be skewed. The sleeping boy slid sideways and only stopped his decent when he made contact with Bunny's furry shoulder.

The rabbit jumped a little, his eyes snapping open at the sudden contact. That was when he looked down to see Jack using his shoulder as a pillow, and sleeping on without a care in the world. "Oh for the love of-" Bunny said, trying to shift out from under the winter child. He gave up quickly though, realizing he was just too tired to do anything about it.

"You're turning me into a big softy, ya know that Frosty?" Bunny asked the sleeping child, even though he knew he would get no response. His own eyes were already closed as he leaned his head back against the couch. It was not even a minute before the large rabbit was asleep as well.


End file.
